Spirits In The Rain
by Blue Lone Wolf 2574
Summary: Dee and the kids meet a strange teen out in the rain, suffering from a possible stab wound, muted shock and running from something they've yet to discover. New York just got a whole new set of problems on their hands, and it's beyond normal. R:T 2 be safe
1. Chapter 1: Day of Rain & Recognition

I am back for another round! No way writer's block and boredom's gonna get me in the ass! No way, no how! My sixth story isn't exactly one of the best I've had in a while but I promise those who actually care that I'll do my best to make this one story all it can be! Considering the time of year that and I've been a part of this site for a while now, hell I thought I could use something new to work on since all the other crap I'm postin' isn't doin' as well as I hoped. It's what I get for thinkin'. Anywho I don't own Fake, its contents or characters but I'm sure anybody who isn't blind can tell that everything else is my crap. That and: Ryo and Dee together? For sure! If this thing were a religion, I'm sure we'd all bow down and thank Sanami Matoh-sama for this awesome manga he's provided for our crappy world to read. Enough of my ranting! Just read and enjoy already!

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Chapter 1: Day of Rain and Recognition

Cold rain came crashing down on the Big Apple, New York City and all its bustling inhabitants as they all tried desperately to get home or to work without getting a single drop on their clothes. Some of these people, for instance, didn't have this kind of luck at all. Ironically that person just so happened to be one of New York's finest, detective Dee Laytner as he cursed himself for parking all to far away from the front doors of the 27th Precinct, remembering all too clearly how he'd left his umbrella in the back seat of his car. Eyebrow twitching and face in a teed off scowl clouding his features he stood like a stranded dog under the roof of his office, wishing that Ryo was there to help him to his car if not for being off on a case of his own. _Great. Just great. The very moment I need him, he's off working somewhere. Some boyfriend he is._ Dee thought in misery to himself as he gathered the edge of his coat and prepared to run like a greyhound his car. He also recalled the brown blond haired man asking him to pick up Carol and Bikky from school since it'd been a bit clearer some time that morning and he didn't want either child to catch a cold.

Dashing between cars and somehow jumping over puddles, Dee finally made it to his car, whipping out his keys and slamming the door behind him before he got too wet than he cared to be. It'd taken some time before Bikky got used to Dee finally being accepted by Ryo on all honest terms but convincing JJ that Dee was now officially taken took a bit longer than either cared for. But thankfully the eccentric cop took the hint and ended up being a friend rather than a bother. Berkeley Rose, on the other hand, had taken a little longer to convince than JJ but in the end he gave up and went on with his own affairs of romance. Starting the car and thankfully sitting in the driver's seat as the heater brought a more comfortable temperature into the car, Dee waited a few minutes to dry up and get the kinks out of his tired limbs. Buckling the seat belt and grasping the wheel, he turned to watch the back as he backed out of the space and headed toward the road, making sure it was clear and that his signal was blinking before he pulled out of the parking lot.

The drive didn't take long but traffic was still a little too clogged for his taste, the rain coming down a little harder than before as he passed the chain fence around the high school. Skimming the crowds with sharp eyes of dark green, he quickly spotted the pair of teens running toward the car, followed by yet another pair whose names he couldn't quite place (Lai and Lass. Duh.) Unlocking the doors the cop watched Bikky slam his door while the last three leapt into the back, quickly shutting the rain and mist out as they sighed in relief. "Thanks Dee. We thought you'd never get here." the blond haired boy chuckled as Dee scowled from where he sat, tossing a towel in the teens' face before sending a few more into the back seat. "Yeah well just feel glad that Ryo asked me too or you'd be out in the rain on the way home today. Man it's really comin' down out there! Walkin' in that would've really sucked." He snickered as Bikky just gave him a 'don't shit with me' look. "Just drive you horny perv."

Snickering as he put the car into drive, Dee clicked his signals on again as he prepared to reenter the hell that was NYC traffic. It took a few red lights and stop signs before they reached Ryo's apartment building, somehow finding the single umbrella in the back seat so they could take turns getting out of the car and indoors. Or at least that what was planned if not for the stranger that came running top speed right at them, sending one or two of them onto the ground with him when they collided. Splashes and crashes filled the air while cries of surprise were muffled by the rain's thunderous fall to the earth below. The unfortunate two to be knocked over happened to be Lai and Carol, Lass still trying to get out of the car once Bikky returned with the umbrella. Dee, not caring if he got wet anymore, ran out and asked the two teens if they were all right. When the response was positive, he turned on the stranger who'd bumped into them who was bracing against the closed car door in order to get to his feet again. Just as he was about to explode at the teen figure, he/she let out a coughing noise; almost as though trying to get something out of his/her throat. Blood splattered to the ground, quickly mixing with rainwater as the figure got to their suddenly wobbly feet, grasping their side with a free hand, their back to the three behind them. Without a word or any kind of apology, the figure turned in their direction and bolted, somehow jumping over them and running off into the distance. Or at least he would have if Bikky hadn't tackled him. "Hey you!"

Gasping in pain, clenching his teeth against a cry of agony and surprise, the stranger wiggled in the teen's grasp, almost desperately clawing at the ground in the hopes of getting away. But the boy's grip didn't falter as Dee ran over, reassuring the teen he could take over for him as he got his friends indoors. As much as the strange teen struggled, Dee's strong hands refused to let go of him, no matter how hard he tried to wriggle out. Dragging the slightly older teen into the building and out of the rain, it was only then that the five got to get a true look at him: brown hair turned a darker shade due to being drenched, golden green eyes with a smooth face that was an odd shade of pale, understandable due to the circumstances. His jacket, also turned a darker color brown, was obviously meant for someone a little bigger than him, a regular t-shirt underneath, while khaki pants with far too many pockets turned a dark tan made up his attire. His shoes, on the other hand, were black and apparently made for hiking or some kind of harsher weather condition than rain. A deep navy blue hat, looking to be that of an engineer's or a mechanic's, sat on his head, facing backwards and equally drenched as the rest of him. As proven when he walked since they didn't squeak like their sneakers did. But there was something very wrong about him that seemed to set them on edge, no matter how innocent he appeared to be: there was a cut in is shirt, blood staining the fabric which he held tightly with his unrestricted hand, his eyes darting here and there as though he expected something to jump out from the shadows at him.

Dee and Bikky, actually working together for once in their lives, took the time to drag the newcomer up the stairs and into Ryo's apartment, Dee instantly taking off in search of the first aid kit while the other four kept an eye on the fifth who was as nervous as ever in as to what was going on and why. Dee soon returned with said kit, setting it down on the coffee table before having one of the girls take the teen's jacket off. This action only caused the teen to panic, shying away from them, covering his head as though to shield himself from attack. He struggled for a few minutes only to find that no pain had resulted from the 'attack' at all. Just one of them taking his jacket while another forced him to sit down. Not taking any guff and definitely not in the mood for it, Dee signaled for the teen to lose the shirt. For some reason the teen merely shook his head, trying to look stubborn but still a bit bashful. "Oh c'mon kid! I need to take care of that before you bleed to death now off with it!" the cop growled in annoyance while the teen just blushed and pointed at the girls who were watching the entire thing with curious eyes. The blush deepened as he looked away, obviously embarrassed at himself.

Dee, on the other hand, wasn't in the mood for excuses at the moment, felt his eyebrow twitch as he nearly snapped at the teen sitting in front of him. "It's not like I'm tellin' you 'get naked'! Just take the shirt off!"

The teen, whom of which appeared to be between 16 to 18 years old, winced at his tone but moved to obey anyway, lifting the shirt off before lifting his arm in turn, still not meeting anyone's eyes. Luckily the wound wasn't deep but it was serious enough to where the teen's skin had turned an unhealthy shade of pale, wincing again as alcohol soaked cotton balls were patted against the injury. Tears of pain threatened to fall as he bit his lip against the cries that he was trying not to express as Dee finished up. Relieved that the man was done, he accepted the shirt that Bikky handed him, still refusing to say anything or look anyone in the eye. It wasn't even a half hour later that the teen had dozed off, his breathing even and calm as everyone else tried to come up with ways to get him to talk. "I think we should wait until Ryo gets here, he's good at getting people to open up."

"You would know having confessed to him yourself." Dee grumbled before he got whacked in the face. "Shut up you." Bikky growled while the older man just held his face in pain, somehow scowling at the teen in fury. "But I'm serious on waiting for Ryo. He just might be the key to gettin' this guy to talk to us about what happened to him and why he was runnin'. I mean... we haven't exactly given this dude a very good first impression."

"I agree with Bikky. Besides, the best we can do is prove that we're not gonna hurt him and maybe then Ryo just might be able to do the rest. I also think we should make him feel welcome since he kinda thought we were gonna hurt him." Carol said, giving the snoozing figure on the couch a worried glance. Silence fell over them as they could only admit that Carol was right.

Rain still continued to fall, making everything outside look a dark shade of gray and hard to see much of anything. Parking on the edge of the street, Randy 'Ryo' MacLean exited his car, thanking his responsible mind for having his umbrella close at hand as he entered the torrent of rain still falling hard. Slamming the door and rushing into the building, he let out a sigh of relief when he finally got to climb the stairs to his apartment without getting a drop on him. Shedding his coat as he entered the apartment, Ryo called out like he always did. "Bikky? Dee? I'm home!"

"Ryo!" the black, blond haired teen exclaimed as he jogged to greet his guardian at the door, helping him get his things in order. "You're just in time for dinner! Lass and Lai are staying over since it's still raining too hard and Dee's behaving (sort of) but you really have to see this!"

Confused in as to what the teen was referring too, he let himself be dragged into the kitchen where he saw the most unusual thing in his life: Dee, holding a cooking knife, was growling at a slightly older teen who'd somehow wedged himself into a corner of the room, both feet and hands bracing against the wall and a cupboard. The strangest part was that the corner he was in was a part of the ceiling rather than the floor. And it was apparent that Dee's means of getting him down wasn't working. "Oh c'mon kid! How many times do I have to tell ya? I'm not gonna hurt ya, I just want you to help get dinner ready is all! Now get down from there."

Unfortunately he'd been waving the knife around as he said this, making him seem less convincing than before. The teen in question only nudged himself a little higher, hoping to escape the blade, shaking his head as he eyed the knife with uneasy fear and uncertainty. Seeing that Bikky had returned with someone new and obviously less threatening, the teen took the only chance he had at escaping the first adult. Bracing then jumping directly across the room, over Dee, off the table and over Bikky and Ryo to land in the opposite ceiling corner, gently dropping to the floor without so much as a sweat, the teen acted as though nothing had occurred as Dee looked like he'd seen something fairly inhuman. "What are you? A monkey? An acrobat? Don't be doin' stuff like that!" the man roared, waving the knife around some more, making the teen hide behind Ryo and pulling the two back and away from the angry cop. "oh hey Ryo! When'd you get here?" the man finally said sheepishly, hoping to hide the 'weapon' but got a scowl instead.

"Just now if you believe it or not. Now what in the world is going on in here? And who's our new guest?" he said, the scowl vanishing as he turned to the person hiding behind him for fear of getting cut. "And who might you be?" he said with a kind smile, the teen staring at him curiously only to look away with a slightly ashamed expression as he nudged Bikky instead. "Sorry Ryo. We've already tried that but we think he's still in some kind of shock so we haven't been able to get anything out of him since we met him. We were hoping you'd have more luck than us."

"I see. Well I don't I'll be able to do much but I guess we'll figure out something sooner or later. So how's dinner coming?" he asked as he rolled up sleeves and tracking down the single apron, snatching the knife from Dee before he hurt himself or someone else. "Well Kijika (1) was helping before he thought I was attackin' him with that knife you have there."

Confused again, Ryo couldn't help but ask. "Kijika?"

"Well we could've called him Hisoka (2) but it's apparent he isn't Japanese so we just call him Kijika instead. Besides, he responds to it anyway. Right Kijika?"

The teen aka Kijika smiled in recognition to the name, waving at Ryo as though greeting him through a window rather than face to face. Blinking at this surprisingly positive reaction, Ryo and Dee set to getting dinner ready with some strangely insistent assistance from their new acquaintance. Not even an hour later they were gathered in the living room, the TV set on some random movie channel while Bikky was playing some cards with Lai and Kijika. Surprisingly enough, the poor teen was losing terribly. "Aw man! No way! I got beat again? Man Kijika you're good." Bikky exclaimed as Kijika smiled sheepishly after laying his cards down. Apparently he was a lot better than any of them were since he'd won the last ten games in a row with no signs of stopping. Dee had gone against the boy, only to lose a few rounds himself. Lai and Lass were picked up by a limo sent by Lai's brother Law, Carol getting an escort out of Ryo, leaving Dee, Bikky and Kijika by themselves.

Bikky tried to make conversation with the fellow teen, but kind expressions and shakes of the head were all he got. Dee attempted some communication skills of his own but only ended up making the boy go pale in fright and hide in a closet or something. One could say that their attempts weren't doing much good. Ryo soon returned from taking Carol home, an event that allowed Kijika to come out of hiding in time for showers and bedtime. Given the couch to sleep on and some clothes to change into, Kijika patiently awaited his turn for the bathroom in the hallway, staring into space until the click of the door alerted him. Oddly enough, it wasn't the bathroom door, but the front door instead. _Didn't one of them lock it?_ Curious and on the alert, the boy edged along the wall toward the door as it was swung open by the intruder. Just as the 'intruder' came inside, Kijika pounced on him.

A loud yell and thud alerted the rest of the residence that something had happened near the front of the apartment. Running with weapons in hand, Ryo and Dee skidded to a halt to find the most amazing sight: JJ, who'd obviously come in uninvited and unannounced, lay on the floor trapped in a nasty headlock by none other than Kijika, who looked like he was about to freak out from panic. The people behind him, (Drake, Berkeley, Ted, and Chief Smith.) "Kijika! Kijika off!" Ryo exclaimed, putting his gun down to pull the teen off of the other man. The boy obeyed, allowing JJ to gasp for air on the floor while the other cops sweat dropped, thinking how they'd never be the first to enter a house again. "I'm very sorry about that JJ. I didn't really expect him to do that. Are you all right?" Ryo asked out of sincere concern for his fallen coworker who just then managed to catch his breath. "Yeah. Yeah he just came out of nowhere."

"And that's new to you?" Dee deadpanned only to get elbowed in the ribs by Ryo after helping JJ back onto his feet again. "Are you sure?"

"I'm pretty sure Ryo. Thanks and who is he? I don't remember you takin' in two kids." The man inquired, trying to give the newcomer a better look over, only to have him hide behind Ryo like a wall, peeking out with tentative eyes. "Just some kid that came outta nowhere a couple o' hours ago. Hasn't said a word since he's been here and he's kinda nameless but we just call him Kijika. Ain't that right punk?" Dee said with a smirk, this time getting poked in the eyes, said teen silently snickering as the cop held his face and grumbled some colorful words. Ryo just rolled his eyes at their antics, shutting the door behind his coworkers as they filed into the room. "So what brings you all here at this hour? Is something the matter?"

"What? Can't a few friends come over for a good beer and some holiday celebration?" Drake asked almost with indignation and shock, holding up a six-pack of beer, Ted doing the same in turn. Ryo just looked like a stern parent while Dee just grinned, all but Kijika with begging looks on their faces, hoping the man would say yes to the idea. No such luck. "Absolutely not. It's late enough as it is, it's raining outside not to mention dangerous that and we have work tomorrow. And on top of that, we need to keep a better eye on our new friend here." he said with finality, patting Kijika on the head as everyone else anime fell to the floor in despair and tears. Finding no reason to fight with the man they left, giving Kijika wary glances as they passed him out into the hallway, the chief mumbling about he'd see them both again at work the next day along with some things they'd be working on as their new assignments. Regular routine kicked back in after that, Kijika sitting on the couch as requested with some blankets and an extra pillow to boot.

Bikky in his own room with Dee grinning happily behind Ryo as he shut the door, the teen found himself alone in the living room, the TV still going on some random channel that he wasn't even watching anymore. Clicking the machine off, Kijika sat on the couch in the dark, turning his oddly sharp eyes out the nearest window completely smothered with winter rain, lightening flashing before letting out its thunderous crash, bringing a new light into the room. Had anyone been in the room to see, his shadow and reflection would've been very different from what anyone would expect to see. Blinking sleepily and wincing a bit at the still aching cut in his side, the teen lay down and covered himself up, and let the rain put him to sleep.

Not bad. A bit short for my tastes but hey. Just be glad I was doin' somethin' with my time than just bein' a lazy ass good for nothin'. Come to think of it, this just might be the best I've been able to pull off yet! But I'm pretty sure those of you, who actually care, will decide that for yourselves won't you? Ah. That's life. It sucks and we know it. Okay notes! I actually have notes to speak of! Can you believe? Haha. Right:

_Kijika_: this name's pretty interesting, despite the character in question has no relation whatsoever to the nationality this name implies. Native American for 'walks quietly' this name speaks for the various amounts of time this guy spends going from place to place. In an eerily, silent manner that'd make anyone want to jump out of their skin. But don't get me wrong. If you know exactly who this character really is, you'll know for sure he's not big on silence. This name is pronounced in two ways, kee-yee-kah, or the Anglicized ki-jee-kah. Whichever one works is fine I guess.

_Hisoka_: though this name has nothing to do with nationality, it still works to describe the kind of person he can be sometimes. Even though the whole 'mute from shock' thing assists this, even when he can talk, secrets are things he knows not to say until the time comes around. This name, Japanese of course, means 'reserved' or 'secretive'.

Oh geez this was a bit of a pain in the ass but I finished it by god! Not as long as I hoped but as long as you guys think it's good I'll keep goin' okay? right then. Let's find out what's happenin' next time shall we?

Next chapter:

Chapter 2: Kijika Comes To The 27th

Ryo and Dee want to know just who Kijika really is and the only way to do that is bringin' him to the station for a bit of identity searches. His voice still AWOL, and his origins just as mysterious, this kid just might give some of the cops at the legendary 27th Precinct something they definitely don't need: heart attacks. Is there more to this guy than meets the eye? Or is he just some regular teenager who went off in the wrong direction? And what'll Diana Spacey of the FBI think of their new friend? Will she come to love him like out dashing duo or will she reveal something none of them expected? Find out in:

**_Chapter 2: Kijika Comes To The 27th!!_**


	2. Chapter 2: Kijika Comes To The 27th

Since I've been given no reason to stop, might as well keep goin' right? Right on! This chapter (hopefully longer than the last) is going to be full of fun and possible unwanted excitement when it comes to what's bound to happen next. Though I'm starting to get the impression that my gimmick, if not noticed by now, is startin' to get a bit old when it comes to those who actually read what I post. Yeah okay I like to repeat some of the stuff I do okay? Besides I think it's good to try and introduce one's personal works through that of mixing it with another's. And I think I've done pretty good so far don't you? Well I think I have and I'm gonna keep goin' for the sake of it. Disclaimer: all hail the holy Matoh-sama!

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Chapter 2: Kijika Comes To The 27th

Golden green eyes blinked in curiosity at the new sights before a certain nameless teen following two NYC cops heading for their offices on a cloudy afternoon. Bikky had already gone to school with Carol, her eyes having widened when she learned of how Kijika, out of panic and a slight misunderstanding, had tackled JJ in a perfect headlock. Quiet as ever; the teen in question had patiently seated himself in the back seat of Dee's car as they drove to the station the next day, staring at the sights outside his window with mild interest. Ryo, being the father-like figure, kept a good eye on the teen as they passed through the doors into the building, hoping he wouldn't jump anyone again. Though his edgy behavior worried Ryo, it didn't appear serious enough to get too anxious over. Shrugging it off, the brownish blond cop led the way to their office, making sure that Kijika entered before Dee did, in case he tried to run off somewhere. He was dressed in his own attire, only now his shirt had been sewn and the stain having been thoroughly washed out so no one would get the wrong impression. Looking around the office, Kijika found an open chair and watched as the two settled in for work.

Ironically JJ came crashing in seconds later with a big grin on his face as he once again, like he always did, attempted to glomp Dee. Unfortunately Dee knew the man was coming and just managed to get out of the way, only to have the ecstatic coworker come crashing down to the floor, twitching like road kill. Kijika tentatively stared at the fallen man, using a pencil he'd somehow gotten his hands on to poke the man, all the while keeping his distance. Ryo just sweat dropped while Dee sighed in relief before smiling in victory to himself over outsmarting his would-be admirer. The man soon rose to leave, crying quietly at his all too clear rejection as he went to his own work that had to be done by his hand. Ted and Drake came by a bit later, telling the two cops of a meeting with the chief that they needed to get to, forcing them to leave the teen by himself in their office. "You stay here Kijika. We'll be back when the meeting's over okay?"

The teen smiled and nodded at Ryo, who smiled back in turn before shutting the door behind them. Office now empty except for him, the teen slowly looked around at his newfound area of exploration. Making sure no one was watching or would walk in on him, he got up and started to sift through papers, files, and cabinets along with drawers, curious eyes memorizing everything there was to be seen or what he'd found. Finishing this course of 'suspicious' activity, he found himself bored again and sitting in a chair doing nothing wasn't hitting the spot. _I could leave and take a look around… no I promised that Ryo guy that I'd stay here until their meeting was over. Looks like I'll have to find something to do while they're gone._

Diana Spacey, lovely agent of the FBI, and constant visitor to the 27th Precinct of New York City, confidently walked the tiled halls, heading straight toward Dee and Ryo's office room. Dressed to kill and ready for anything, the blond woman laid a manicured hand on the door handle and swung it open to see something she hadn't expected at all. The shock of the sight led to her screaming at the top of her feminine lungs, bringing all of the men within range (including those meeting with the Chief) running to see what was the matter. What they found only made them anime fall or sweat drop, all but a few walking away grumbling while the rest watched as Diana squealed her head off over an unfortunate teenager. Kijika, the teenager in question, had simply found a book to read amidst all the things in the office and had sat down in his chair to read it only to have some strange but beautiful woman walk in and go fan girl crazy. Now he was being swung around like a rag doll as the said woman squealed and cooed at him, making him dizzy and unable to escaped her clutches. "He's so CUTE!" she squealed again as she swung the poor boy one way then the other in her excitement. Lucky for Kijika, Ryo came to his rescue.

"Diana! Please! Put him down! You're going to make him sick!" the man pleaded even as the woman stopped to obey, only then seeing the error in her actions. Kijika, who was now limp and unbearably nauseous, tried to clear his spinning head as his vision still proved blurry and faded. Trying to stand on his own two feet also proved to be a futile attempt as he felt gravity kick in, causing him to fall to the floor in a daze. But to everyone else, he looked unusually pale and shaky before he fell to the ground in a heap of lifeless limbs. Ryo kneeled down to turn the boy over and maybe pick him up off the floor, only to find a red blotch coming up from underneath the teen's shirt. He froze before turning to Dee in a panic. "Get the first aid kit! And call an ambulance! We need to get him to the hospital!"

The other cop didn't need to be told twice as he ran to find a phone, Ted running off in search of the first aid kit since Dee couldn't do two things at once. Diana could only stand in shock at what'd just occurred. Wasn't the kid just fine a few seconds ago? Was it something she'd done? Or had she only made it worse? Not knowing what to think, Diana could only watch as Ryo picked the boy up off the floor in search of a better place to treat the newly discovered issue.

Floating back to consciousness, Kijika blinked at the white ceiling above him, trying to recall how he'd ended up in what he could smell to be a hospital. Sitting up and looking around, he found himself shirtless once again and Ryo in the visitor's chair next to the bed. An IV in his arm and new stitches in his side, Kijika decided it was high time to alert the snoozing Ryo that he was awake. Much to his amusement, all he had to do was poke the man in the forehead, making him twitch and groan. Blinking sleepily Ryo raised his head to meet gazes with his charge who just smiled in amusement. "Oh you're awake! I'll go tell Diana that you're okay. She'll be thrilled to know how you are."

The teen nodded, the smile remaining as the man left him alone again. He knew this was getting old and fast. People kept leaving him behind and he was tired of it. _Hopefully I'll be of better use next time. I hope that no one will leave me in the dust anymore._ He thought as he lay back down, reveling in the comfort of the standard hospital bed. Feeling sleepy again even though he just woke up, Kijika felt his eyes slip and close, entering the world of darkness and slumber over light and consciousness.

Meanwhile in the hallway just outside the room, Diana, Dee and various others sighed in relief upon learning that their new friend was all right and would be released some time soon. "What exactly caused him to bleed like that anyway? I know for a fact that I didn't do any real damage to him." The FBI agent demanded, hoping to heaven above that not all of this was her fault to a certain degree. Thankfully Ryo's response calmed her. "According to Dee, he was like that when he popped out of nowhere last night. I didn't meet him until I got home and by then Dee had dealt with whatever kind of wound that is. Why it would reopen like it did I've no idea but I hope that it's not infected or something. The doctors say he just needed a few stitches and some extra sleep to make up for the loss of blood, which surprisingly wasn't much."

"So can they say just what kind of wound it is? It's kinda big to be some weird paper cut and I doubt that some stray dog attacked him. The kid's too big to fall victim to one of those mother fuckers. And by the way he tackled JJ last night I'm surprised that it didn't open back up 'til just now." Drake reasoned with his lazy drawl from where he stood in the hall. Diana, her curiosity perked, spoke up with a confused expression on her face. "What do you mean he tackled JJ? If he'd done that then why didn't he defend himself against me? Why didn't he say anything?"

"Because he can't. We think it's some kind of post dramatic shock or what have you. He's pretty much well behaved for a teenager and the only reason he put JJ in a headlock is because the guy came through the front door uninvited and kinda unannounced thus resulting in his reaction." Dee growled as he sipped his coffee, waving a hand at the woman in his usual nonchalant manner. "Besides, he was waiting in our office for when we came back from our staff meeting with the Badger. I don't think he expected to get attacked by an employee in a public area, let alone a female FBI agent to say the least."

"Huh. So that must mean that his reactions are set on his surroundings? That's one perceptive kid you found there. But the question is: who is he and where did we come from?" the woman pondered aloud while looking into the room, watching as the teen seemed to shift and roll over, presenting his back to them. As the conversation around her moved on, she couldn't help but stare at what was on his back, resting like a second skin on top of his shoulder blades. A pair of silvery blotches marred his pale skin, running from his shoulder line almost to the end of his spine that was hidden by cloth and shadow. Right on top of these strange marks was a tattoo of extreme intricate design, color and beauty done only by a master: a wolf/fox-like creature standing proudly with the speckled wings of a hawk stretching across his shoulder blades, the tail curled in a majestic manner just beneath the nape of his neck. Eyes almost like living fire, standing out from the dark fur in bright yellow, stared off at nothing before she could swear they moved to look right at her.

The day was passing slowly, too slowly for Bikky Goldman's taste. He could swear the teacher was stretching his lecture on purpose and that the clock was busted even when the second hand moved around like it was supposed too. Needless to say, the blond boy was bored out of his mind and he couldn't wait to get out and see out Kijika was doing. Carol had said she'd been worried about his injury that and Lass had already approached him about coming over with Lai to check on the strange teen as a group. He could only smile at how people jumped when the bell finally rang, the teacher yelling out their new assignments for next week. Almost literally jumping through the halls, Bikky scanned the crowds for Carol and Lass who might've already found Lai some time before hand. It took him a few minutes but he grinned and waved, calling out above the din before jumping down from a lower level to zig zag through the crowd with ease, reaching them within seconds. "You guys ready?"

"Yeah dude let's head out already! I want to see if I can't win against him this time!" Lai demanded with a chuckle as they passed the school fences out into the busy street of New York. Clouds still a dangerously dark shade of gray, hanging like solid shadows over the big city as the quartet strolled along the sidewalks toward Ryo's apartment building a few streets away. The wind suddenly picked up, making the girls and several other women around them cry out in surprise, books dropping to the ground in an attempt to keep their skirts from flying up. Bikky and Lai moved to pick up the dropped items, making sure their gazes were pointed away from trouble as they finished. Just as they got to their feet, someone crashed headlong into Lai, sending them both to the ground with a loud thud and a cough. The new person quickly rolled off the other teen, gasping for air as he asked. "Aw dude I'm sorry. You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. You should watch where you're goin' there man."

"I know. Sorry. Here let me—ah!" the stranger yelped when he tried to get up, clutching his leg with a face contorted with pain. It was obvious he'd sprained or twisted it before or during their tumble, the wind still not letting up as they managed to get a better look at him: light brown hair came over his head in lazy spikes, cool grey eyes squinted in pain, marring a smooth face. His jacket was a chocolate brown, t-shirt a sandy tan while his pants were just a pair of baggy blue jeans. A messenger bag hung limp by its strap from his shoulder, thankfully its contents firmly trapped inside. His hat, a black baseball cap with some kind of lettering on it in white, lolled on the ground in the gusts that swept passed them before Lass went to pick it up and dust it off. Letting out a word of thanks the teen stuck the cap on his head backwards before taking Bikky's hand offered in assistance. Pulling himself up the teen managed to hop over to a nearby bus bench where he sat down with a sigh of relief. He watched as they collected their things before joining him at the bench, his eyes questioning them all the way through. "I'm really sorry. Weren't you on your way somewhere? No need to worry about me honest! I'll just flag a cab and get to the hospital that way."

"No way dude. We're gonna get you there ASAP. Besides, the one for the cops is just around this corner so it won't take long to get you there. Right guys?" Lai insisted, looking to his friends for support who instantly responded to the question. Sighing with a tired smile, the teen finally caved. "Since you insist. But I don't think we've introduced ourselves! Should I go first or do you want to?"

"Oh that's okay! I'm Lai, that's Bikky, and those two are Carol and Lass. Who might you be?" the Chinese teen inquired as the opposite's smile widened with sincerity. "Gayle's the name while part-time jobs and crashing into people are my game!"

This, of course, brought them all a good laugh or two as Lai and Bikky moved to support their new acquaintance to the Bronx Precinct hospital, right where our other participants of this interesting story were awaiting Kijika's release from the clutches of the white coats and their fearsome needles. Kijika, who was newly awakened but still a bit on the sleepy side, stood between Dee and Ryo as Diana continued to apologize for her mistake and unnecessary actions upon the wounded teen. Of course the poor guy was only half listening since he was still a bit numb from the sedatives that'd been put into his systems during his much needed operation. Eyes half-mast, his expression obviously drowsy and his step a drunk's stumble, Ryo finally waved the woman off so he could cart the boy to the car where he instantly flopped over in the backseat. Telling the chief that he'd be taking the boy home to watch over him, Ryo started the car and headed toward home just as Bikky, Lai and the girls came around the corner with their new responsibility limping in between them.

Dee, left to deal with what few had stayed behind, soon noticed the quartet with their new charge between them heading toward a room close by. A doctor and a nurse went inside, the nurse shooing the four out as the woman shut the door behind them. The doctor came out a few minutes later, saying something that they seemed to sigh in relief about and thanking the man before walking away only to bump into a certain jet-black haired cop. "What are you four doin' here? I thought you were gonna head straight to Ryo's place after school?"

"We were but the guy we brought it knocked into us and twisted his ankle so we brought him here. Come to think of it, why are you here you pervert?" Bikky asked in a suspicious manner, sticking out his tongue even when the man looked like he wanted to beat the shit out of the kid. "I'm just here 'cause Diana got a bit too rough with Kijika when she met him. Reopened that damn wound of his but no worries he's fine." He said reassuringly, the four sighing their relief as the man continued. "Ryo just left with him to see if the poor kid can't get any real shuteye. Be careful though. Poor dude's not even half awake thanks to that stuff they gave him when they needed to numb him up for stitches."

"Gotcha. See ya at dinner Dee!" Bikky called as the four jogged down the hall and out the front doors. The man could only smile as they left, randomly reminiscing his own teenage years before the chief nearly yelled at him to move since he alone now had to not only finish both their work but clean up whatever mess Diana's ecstatic tumble with Kijika had created. Grumbling at the thought of more work than he cared to receive, the NYC cop stomped his way out of the hospital and back into the Precinct where he silently cursed a certain blond woman of the ever-annoying FBI.

Ryo couldn't help but sweat drop when Kijika walked into another wall, his face blank and sleepy and his eyes unfocused with unnatural fatigue. Though he'd come to avoid things like tables and counters, his bane turned out to be walls and doors, a few of which causing him to fall to the floor in a heap before he managed to pick himself up and keep walking. The cop couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy but decided to let him be as he turned his attention to getting dinner ready. Unfortunately he was distracted again by yet another loud thump, only this time voices followed it. Instantly concerned, Ryo jogged out of the kitchen to the front hall to find Kijika slowly sitting up with a sleepy expression still on his face while Carol and Lass scolded Bikky for not being cautious enough in opening the front door. The culprit, on the other hand, was rightfully protesting to having been guilty in the slightest and how he didn't know the other boy was there in the first place. "Had I known I'd have opened it slower now would I?" he growled, giving both girls a miffed look even though they looked a bit skeptical. "Hey Bikky! Just in time for you to help me with dinner."

"Hey Ryo. Why is Kijika up and walking around? Dee told us he had to get stitches today after meeting Diana." The boy inquired as he helped the fallen one to his feet, whom to his surprise walked away in a drunken stumble in some random direction. "I tried to get him to lie down but for some reason he feels the need to walk it off instead of sleeping it off. I'm pretty sure he knows to collapse on the couch when it all becomes too much for him but right now that's not the issue. How did you find that out anyway? I don't remember seeing you at the hospital."

"Oh Dee said that you'd just left with Kijika when we got there on the way home. You see, this guy callin' himself Gayle bumped into us and twisted his ankle so we took him to the hospital since it was close by in the first place." The teen explained to his guardian as they moved into the kitchen/dining room, their voices fading off as Kijika stood unnoticed around one of the hallway corners. Something about Bikky's story had caught his attention, thus reawakening his drugged brain as he thought back to the odd but all too familiar scent that'd been hanging onto all four of the other teens. _That must mean the guys are lookin' for me but they still don't know where I am. The ankle accident is Gayle's favorite m.o. and his routine is too genuine for them to notice anything odd about it. I can only guess that he caught my scent from them somehow and knew I'd get a whiff of it when they got back. I just hope I can send them a response before somebody gets too edgy and gets noticed by the public. Gah. I'm too sleepy. I think I'll worry about this later._ Letting the fatigue kick back in and the heavy-eyed expression returning to his face, Kijika stumbled to the living room couch to finally sleep the anesthetics off like he knew he should have in the first place. And as expected, he nearly broke his nose on a wall on the way.

He'd been in the examination room for almost an hour and it was really starting to bite at his nerves. The pain having ebbed away with the crappy magic of time and patience, Gayle couldn't help but feel like banging his head against a wall in frustration about how the doctor who he was destined to meet was taking his sweet old time coming around to take a look at his injured limb. Anger and distaste threatened to take his thoughts in an unwanted direction on what he'd do to the man if he ever showed up at all if ever but he fought off the urge to snap his neck as soon as he walked into the room. It'd been almost a good hour and a half, and the doctor was supposed to have come in some five minutes after he got in there. Seeing an extra pair of crutches sitting in a corner, ready for use, Gayle decided not to turn down the invite. Making sure no one was going to walk in on him, he managed to slip off the table, using his good leg and the table for support as he hopped over, leaning so that he wouldn't fall as he tried to grab the counter with his free hand. Finally grabbing it (even though if can't exactly move) the teen quickly hopped over and brought his weight down on the structure. Careful not to bother his aching leg, Gayle started his annoyingly long journey toward his new goal. It took him a few minutes but he grinned to himself when he finally got a hold on the crutches, getting one then the other before doing something he wished he'd done not an hour ago: leave! Or at least he was about too if not for the stranger blocking his path: tall with jet black hair, eyes of deep green, strong stance, loose but comfortable clothes and a bad boy expression with a cop badge on his belt, to boot. Blinking innocently at this strange occurrence, Gayle decided it was high time to play dumb. "Can I help you officer?"

"Yeah. You can tell me why you really bumped into a few friends of mine before you got here this afternoon. And also why you're attempting to leave this room." Said cop growled with a 'no lying and no trouble' expression that told Gayle to watch what he said or be in some really big shit. "Not too much there sir. Just about to look for a nurse so that doctor who was _supposed_ to show up can look at my leg so we can all go home. Fair enough for you officer?"

Eyes narrowed a bit from suspicion, said cop still nodded with a grunt. "Yeah that's good enough. I'll go find that lazy doctor for you so sit tight will ya?" not in the mood for taking no for an answer, Dee walked away with his hands lazily stuffed into his pockets, down the hall and around a corner, scanning the place for said doctors. Once he was out of sight, Gayle let out the breath that he was holding, looking left and right in search of life. For some odd reason, all of the halls were unusually empty, everything deathly still unlike most hospitals during the day. Just by looking he could tell something was wrong, and letting the cop leave had been a bad idea. _Something's up around here… or someone in particular. I just hope all those people are okay. And that cop, I need to find him before he gets himself into something he definitely won't understand at all. This is turning out to be a real headache._ Not letting his thoughts stray from the situation at hand, Gayle quietly shut the door behind him and went in search for the cop he hoped wouldn't get into something nasty.

Dee calmly walked the halls of the East Bronx hospital, knowing full well it was too early for the night shifts to start anytime soon. That and his coworkers had vanished a bit too soon which meant either they left him behind and didn't tell him, or they got called to do something elsewhere. Either way he couldn't help but feel that something was wrong considering he couldn't find anyone at all. And he could swear that the p.a. system had been shut off for some reason since no calls were being made like some minutes before hand. A bit suspicious, he felt like it was the Hale bomb incident all over again only this time it was a hospital and not Bikky's school that was gonna blow. His eyes surveyed all within his range, looking over cots, carts of equipment, message boards and a nurse's station that was devoid of anyone except files and phones. A click caught his attention, dodging as scalpels and surgery scissors flew through the air and sticking into the opposite wall. Rolling expertly as more were sent in his direction, piercing the tile floor as a few nurses and a doctor trudged out of a nearby room, wielding scalpels and syringes like daggers, IV poles like spears. "What the hell?" he called to them in anger and confusion, only to be silenced by their expressions: blank and unfocused, as if sleep walking with their eyes open, gazes completely devoid of any consciousness whatsoever. One of them was about to throw some more scalpels his way when something came flying over him and got the woman in the face.

The crutch had scaled the distance shortly and sweetly, Gayle using the remaining one to 'run' to the cop's aid, stopping to bring it up and swing it at the remaining people, getting them all in the sides of the head. A few of them fell while the rest just stumbled like the zombies they appeared to be, giving Gayle time to pick up the lost crutch and head back toward the stunned officer and ask. "You okay?"

Dee was in a state of shock. He didn't know what just happened or let alone why but all that he knew was some strange teen had just kicked the crap out of a bunch of adults without even sweating. Unaware that the kid was talking to him, Dee could only gape at what had just happened to a bunch of innocent people. "Hey!" the teen's voice woke him up, making him look and see a stern face looking down in concern at him, a hand extended despite being barely able to stand himself. "You okay Blue Boy?"

"Uh yeah. I'm fine but… what just happened here? What'd you do to them?" Dee stammered as he accepted the hand and got to his feet while the ones still standing began their trudge toward them. Spotting this, one of the crutches flew again, making them fall like flies to lie on the floor obviously unconscious. The teen was really trying to breathe now. "Damn this is tiresome. C'mon cop. I can't keep this up all day ya know. I'd love to stay here but we gotta get outta here and now."

"What? What for? And why'd you attack those people? Who are you anyway?" Dee growled; standing his ground while Gayle just looked like he was about collapse right where he stood. Glaring back hard enough to make Dee start, Gayle looked him right in the eye, speaking in a stone cold voice. "We don't have time to argue right now but if you want to become one of them fine. You can stay here and become mindless and controlled. But if you want to know what the hell's goin' on then we need to leave. I'd go but I'm not exactly in my best condition to get out by myself. Now grab the crutch and help me walk 'cause dammit I'll be damned if you get just like they have."

Blinking but deciding not to argue, he quickly grabbed the fallen crutch and handed it back to the youth, following him away from the scene just as one or two of the fallen employees started to get back up, their expressions still blank and lifeless. Flinching at the aching pain in his leg but not wanting to slow down, Gayle moved as fast as his arms would allow, Dee walking at the same pace beside him with a questioning look on his face. Stopping in a cross section between halls, Gayle looked in all available directions before turning to Dee. "Hey which way's the lobby? The front doors' out best bet from what I figure."

"What if more of those zombie guys are there? What then?"

"The ones responsible aren't that stupid. From what I can tell they only targeted a single part of the hospital to make things less obvious. Doing more than that would be stupid and noticeable. Besides, surprisingly enough, it's me they're after but their hold here's disgustingly weak so getting out unnoticed won't be a problem."

"Wait. What? Who's after you? And what do you mean 'hold'? Start talkin' kid or I ain't goin' nowhere." Dee growled defiantly, looking really confused now while Gayle just sighed in defeat. This is getting nowhere fast. Gotta think of somethin'. Okay. "Tell you what: if we both get outta this in one piece and without getting too much public attention I'll tell you as much as I can with whomever you trust the most or at least those you think should know about this whole thing. But until then all we can do is bust heads and hope that this whole place isn't totally corrupt. Capice?"

Weighing his options and thinking it over (Dee can think like a human? Who knew?), the cop finally nodded. "Yeah I gotcha. Oh and the name's Dee."

"I'm Gayle. Now let's go." Without another word he started to make his way to the right, where he last remembered the lobby to have been. Dee held back for a few seconds to watch their backs, and upon finding nothing, jogged to walk next to Gayle like before. Much to his surprise and utmost astonishment, he found the lobby filled with people like always, some chatting while others worked on various pieces of paperwork on their way to their stations. Gayle leaned toward him a bit to whisper. "Don't react. They don't know what's happened on our end. Only those where we were got taken over so these people are in the dark. Just let it roll and head toward the door, I'll be right behind you. Nice and slow."

"You sure?"

"Positive. Now move before they think you're sick too." He said and emphasized it with a nudge, nearly making him trip but straightened up enough to look normal. Gayle edged to the side of the room, away from everyone's eyes, moving with expert ease and innocence toward the front doors. Dee, not far behind, made sure no one saw him get right beside the teen again as they exited the building like nothing had happened at all. Just their luck, JJ and Chief Smith were still hanging around the front steps, obviously waiting on Dee to leave the place. Perking at the sight of him, the chief spoke first. "Hey Dee where the hell have you been? We've been waitin' on ya. And who's the kid that's with ya?"

"No time. We need to leave. Now." Dee barked, leaving no room for questions as he headed for his own car, the chief getting in the passenger's side while JJ and Gayle scrambled to get into the back seat. Quickly whipping out his keys Dee started the car and hit the road, making the proper turns toward the precinct some distance away. The teen groaned when JJ hit his leg by accident as they took a hard turn, biting his lip against the pain even as the man apologized. The chief looked back at the teen then at Dee, obviously wondering what the hell was going on but chose not to ask since the man was driving on some busy streets. Yells of surprise filled the car when Dee spun the wheel to avoid getting hit by a wayward car, hitting the gas and speeding off without even bothering to see if the other driver was all right. Turning a few more corners, the 27th Precinct building in the southeastern Bronx came into view, Dee quickly finding a spot, shutting the car off and turning to Gayle. "Will they come here too?"

"Nah. We're good. They can be real dumb asses sometimes but they're not that stupid. I think people would notice if cops just up and started actin' funny, especially in broad daylight. They won't come for us here." the teen said as he moved to get out of the car, wincing as his leg sent him another wave of agony. Exiting the car as well, the chief started to give Dee the fist in the face. "You better start explainin' what the hell's goin' on Laytner or your ass is fired!"

"I would sir but this kid's the only one who can really say. But I can say we gotta get everybody together and fast, or things might get too far over our heads than they already are." Dee said coolly, but the stern expression on his face was the most convincing and thankfully it was enough to get the chief to back off. "All right. Call up your partner and I'll get the boys together. JJ you follow me and you," he growled as he turned to Gayle who was just trying to keep the pain off his face. "You got some talkin' to do."

"No worries man. This bird's gonna sing. No doubt." He confirmed with a nod, sighing in relief as the man walked away and Dee whipped out his cell phone. Much to his chagrin, JJ departed with his usual goodbye. "See you later Mr. Sexy!" smiling innocently as his said it before jogging to catch up with the older man while Dee just stood with a dangerously pissed off look on his face. Gayle looked between them, sincerely confused by this unusual label given to his temporary partner by the obviously quirky officer that he apparently was forced to work with. "Mr. Sexy?"

"Don't even ask. He likes me too much but I hate his guts so leave it be k?" Gayle just shrugged in response, opening his door again to use the back seat as a resting spot while Dee listened to the dial tone on his phone, waiting for Ryo to pick up. Much to his relief he heard it click and a familiar voice came from the other side. "Hello?"

"Ryo! It's Dee. You need to get over to the precinct ASAP. We've got a situation that I think you should come listen in on. How soon can you get here?"

"Oh just give me ten minutes or so. I'll be over there as soon as I can. See you then." Ryo's voice sounded surprised but concerned that something was wrong. _Oh very wrong._ Dee thought as he grunted and hung up. As he pocketed the device, he turned to find Gayle staring at him with a thoughtful look on his face. "What? What're you starin' at?"

"Your love life must suck if you're pinning over some other guy when another's jumpin' all over ya. Stinks to be you doesn't it?" Gayle said with a playful smirk, Dee trying not to blush as he raised a fist in the teen's direction. "Ryo and me are together dammit and just 'cause JJ isn't givin' up don't mean I'm gonna give him the time o' day okay? Now bug off you!" he snapped angrily as Gayle just lazily waved a hand before grabbing his crutches and getting to his feet. "Chill dude. Just an observation is all. No need to get your pants in a twist sheesh. You're louder than the guy I'm lookin' for right now."

This instantly caught Dee's attention. He's lookin' for someone and dealin' with zombie like people? What the hell? "Who you lookin' for? Someone you wanna kill?"

Gayle just scoffed with a twitching smirk. "He's annoying sometimes but not _that_ annoying. Though sometimes you gotta fight the urge to strangle him ya know? Not like Mr. Lover Boy whom you've proven to hate with a vengeance but like little kid annoying if ya know what I'm talkin' about."

Dee couldn't help but think of a certain black kid with blond hair who was annoying as Hades when he was younger (and probably still is), especially after he first met the brat. Eyebrow twitching and a strained smile on his face, Dee simply said. "Oh yeah. I know _all_ about that."

Gayle, kinda confused by the man's expression, just shrugged again before heading toward the precinct doors, stopping only to look back at the man. "Hey you comin' or not?"

"Yeah, yeah." Dee grumbled as he closed up and locked his car, moving to walk beside the teen in case he needed help walking.

Some distance away, Ryo prepared to leave again for work, telling Bikky and friends to look after the still disoriented Kijika while he was gone. Calling out affirmatives to this command, the teens gathered into the living room with their homework and other things so they could easily deal with their new friend should he need something or go wrong. With some help from Lai and debating on answers, they soon finished within a good half hour of guard duty over the drowsy teen barely conscious on the couch next to them, his normally perceptive eyes staring blankly at nothing. A deck of cards soon appeared and a few games were played, some rounds won, others lost as things flowed casually. When the cards weren't enough, they turned to the television that they kept at a fair volume to avoid irritating Kijika. Choosing a channel that they all agreed on, the four teens settled in, their focus completely on the screen, laughing or arguing over what'd just occurred, simply enjoying themselves. Of course, the foul weather decided to ruin it all by starting to rain and making the image go unbearably fuzzy. Cursing under his breath Bikky got up and started fiddling with the controls only to prove useless. A rustle, though quiet but still not gone unnoticed, brought Carol and Lass's attention to Kijika who'd sat up, looking around a tad bit confused. "Lie back down Kijika. You're not fully recovered yet!" one of the girls pleaded but was met with a blank, sleep filled gaze that showed no sign of hearing her.

Turning to the noisy box however did his expression change: eyebrows furrowing to show confusion, his mouth working even when nothing came out as he seemed to be trying to complain about the TV. Ignoring their protests he got up and headed toward a closet, surprisingly not bumping into any walls there and back with a tool kit he'd somehow tracked down. Apparently only half awake at the moment, Kijika gently pushed Bikky away from the machine and surveyed it amply before shutting it off and going behind it, popping the back off to stare almost sleepily at all the wires and bulbs that made up its mechanic intestine. Showing no hesitation or actual thought, he seemed to dive right in began tinkering around regardless of protests sent his way. Somehow getting the antenna detached and its wires free of nearly all restraints, they could hear buzzes and crackles coming from behind the television, bright lights flashing for seconds at a time before the teen got up and went into the kitchen.

He came back a minute or two later with some wires he'd tracked down before vanishing behind the TV again. Soon after did he appear again, only this time to put the back of the television back on, leave to put the wire and tools away, come back with the same sleepy expression on his face, and turned the TV back on. Ignoring their looks of shock, Kijika trudged past them and lay down on the couch, pulled the blankets over himself before rolling over and passing out cold. Their mouths hung open as the channel they'd been watching came through with surprising clarity and perfect sound as before the rain started to fall. Not knowing what to do or say, they simply sat back down in silence before nervously switching back to their regular routine all the while glancing at their sleeping friend in curiosity.

Meanwhile at the precinct, Ryo quickly walked through the doors and toward one of the conference rooms dressed in the same suit as before, opening and closing the door in haste, nodding to his fellow coworkers and giving his partner (in more than one way) Dee a questioning look. Instead of answering, he gave the person he didn't notice at upon entering the thumb, Ryo quickly switching faces to look the new one over. Deep eyes of cool gray, straight and clean features though a little pale but not tanned, baseball hat positioned to face backwards so all could see him clearly, his short light brown hair sticking out in a natural fashion as he surveyed the room patiently. Finding he had a new observer who was sitting next to Dee no less, he blinked then smirked, waving from where he sat holding a pair of crutches in his hands. Confused at this, Ryo leaned a bit to see the teen's left leg covered by a plastic bag filled with ice, one of his shoes sitting nearby next to a messenger bag flopped limply on the floor. About to open his mouth in question he was forced to shut it and take his seat again as Chief Smith and Commissioner Rose entered with Diana Spacey on their heels, the chief shutting the door with a huff. Making sure all the windows were closed and that the blinds were shut tight, the chief turned toward the teen, stabbing a finger as a vein or two pulsed on the man's forehead as he growled. "Okay you little punk! You better start talkin' or I'm gonna throw you into a jail cell for wastin' our time!"

Not even perturbed by the man's outburst in any manner the teen just looked around the room quite carefully: Dee and Ryo sat next to Ted and Drake, JJ, Diana and Berkeley on the opposite side with the chief on the far opposite side of the table. A bit satisfied somehow but still a bit wary he turned to Dee. "Is this all of them? Every single one?"

"Yup you betcha. So spill before the Badger has a heart attack." He said only to get whacked on the head by the chief's fist as the teen just nodded, his face suddenly grim in nature. "Before I start, do any of you have any questions you'd like to ask other than 'what the hell's goin' on?' or 'who's this crazy ass punk?'."

They sat in stunned silence as the teen just stared back with the same expression on his face, his eyes slowly passing over them all before Berkeley broke the hush with a nervous cough. "You sir?" the teen said, turning his gaze toward the man as he shifted in his seat. "Just what is your name anyway? You've given us so little details on yourself and I think that's where we should start first."

The teen just smirked with a nod as he answered quite coolly. "Well if you must insist on knowing me better, my name's Gayle but I think the pretty Ms. Spacey who's sitting next to you knows me better than anyone in this room. Right Diana?"

All turned to the federal agent as she obviously sat there staring at the teen, waiting for her brain to pull his face out of the many that were trapped inside. The whole room jumped in surprise when she leaped out of her seat, one hand slamming onto the table surface while the other stabbed in Gayle's direction as she stammered in absolute bewilderment. "N-NEWMAN (1)!!"

"Yes hello Diana. How are you? It's been awhile hasn't it? Looking lovely as ever I see. I'd been wondering if you've been told to follow the dress code yet but oh so apparently not. Aw how cute. You're angry. Whatever for?" he said playfully, all the while smirking, still unaffected by the distinct emotional upset being sent his way.

"Like hell I'm angry! I'm PISSED! Where the hell have you been all this time? And what the fuck is you doing here? In NEW YORK! Dammit Newman! You know how to piss a girl off don't ya?"

"Don't we all?" he said coolly before his face turned grim again. "But right now that's not the point. One of my guys is missin' and he was last known to be in this area and this very district no less. The boys back at my place are gettin' worried that he got hit by someone and is lyin' in a gutter somewhere. We had to lock his brother up to keep him from goin' on a rampage and startin' some kind of spree."

"It's really that bad?"

"Lady. With him it's always bad. He's got the fuse of a five second time atomic bomb so he's always gonna be violent one way or another."

"What kind of room did you put him in?" JJ asked, fairly curious now though the answer made him regret ever asking. "A place strong enough to keep King Kong indoors for months. If we're lucky he'll be in there for a week tops."

"He was really that mad? What is he? Goliath's cousin? How was he doin' when you left your place?" Diana inquired, he expression sincerely concerned now that Gayle was willfully chatting away like the bird he seemed to be.

"Tryin' to break it down. Duh. I think he might've put a few dents in it by now since I haven't found squat in almost twelve hours. He's gonna skin me alive."

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that."

"You and me too sister." Gayle said with a sigh, bags starting to appear under his eyes as he slumped a bit in his chair, ignoring the stares he was getting from everyone else in the room. Ryo, curious and wanting to break the new silence, gave Diana an inquiring look as he asked. "Diana? You know him?"

"Unfortunately yeah I do. This guy and a few buddies o' his have been known to be a bit helpful if not troublesome in closing a few of the FBI's cases. He and his friends are a kinda on the secretive side but they have their uses. When you can find them at least."

"Well gee! Sorry if L.A. wasn't all that entertaining. Movin' around a time or two won't kill nobody anytime soon Diana now will you just chill? Damn. And to think my head was just startin' to hurt."

"All right then Gayle. Do tell us what the hell's goin' on here that's _soo_ important for you to be sitting in this room." Diana said in a demanding tone, sitting back in here chair, arms crossed with an expectant look on her face. Sighing, just knowing he was in a corner on this one, Gayle spoke again. "Finding the guy I'm lookin' for is more important right now and that should be our main focus. He can be pretty good by himself but with his mentality I don't think he'll enjoy being alone for long. On top of that, we suspect he's the one _they're_ after. We can't let anything happen to him no matter what."

"Who is this guy and who's they? Sing bird boy. You said you'd sing now you gotta sing the whole number." The chief said, taking his own turn in getting out of his seat in rage, veins pulsing all over his head as Gayle rummaged through one of his coat pockets, balancing the crutches against the table as he fiddled around looking for what they had no idea. Finally pulling his hand out of one of his pockets, he sifted through some folded pieces of paper which he put aside at random before coming across the one thing he needed the most: a photograph. "Here we are! Take a look at this. He should be right in front."

Curious, they all leaned forward to take a gander at the photo, which was still in surprisingly good condition, the scene and its contents oddly simple and without anything all that special. It was just a group gathered in front of classic car, obviously renewed with all new original parts. Surprisingly it was a navy blue Model T 1964 Ford Mustang, clean and ready to roll, a few others parked not too far away in varying colors. But what attracted the most attention was the crowd gathered in front of the new car: one being Gayle, in a mechanic's suit and baseball cap on backwards, another male but his face was covered in oil and such but his eyes were a darker shade of gray and his hair was a bit longer than Gayle's. Another stood close by as well, slightly Hispanic but still pale enough to have other origins. But the last two were what caused the most uproar out of the group: standing side by side, one looking grouchy and ready to kill something, the other smiling his head off, stood two identical teens with short brown hair, golden green eyes and smooth features to boot. All couldn't help but call out:

"KIJIKA?!?"

My god that took forever! I thought I'd never finish this! My fingers! They hurt! The reviews better be worth the work! And much to my surprise, this story's actually more popular than I thought. Either that people are just going 'hey what's this? I wonder what it says? Oh look this is nothing but crap. I'm never clicking on this again'. Seriously people don't do that to me. It's just mean but if people really are interested, then this thing's gettin' 60 somethin' hits and counting! This has got to be really good or some critics must be pretty damn bored to so much as look at what I've posted. Yeah I'm feelin' the love people, I'm feelin' it. Ah geez we have a note to deal with don't we? Damn I rant too much. Oh well. Here it is then:

1) _Newman_: if I was gonna chose this guys last name (which I honestly forgot to do) then I'd have no other option than this one 'cause all the others I chose sounded crappy and overused by other writers either that or they're just too damn common. So much for those names. But this one fits just fine I guess. Gayle Newman. Sounds about right don't it?

Thank heaven there was just one and only _one_ note to deal with or I'd be screwed! And possibly once again I've jinxed myself. I don't know. I've probably done that enough for them to counter each other a few times by now but who cares. I finished this chapter dammit. And man is it longer than the last one. I hate posting short chapters. Makes me feel lazier than I really am. Okay. Enough rambling.

Next chapter:

Chapter 3: Bikky and Lai Strike Back!

Things may've gotten a little crazy over at the 27th but things are about to get nasty for our favorite quartet plus one. As Diana, Dee and Ryo rush to get answers from Kijika, Bikky and pals are about to get an unwanted visit from the people who just might be hunting both him and Gayle! But what do they want and why? And how do Kijika and Gayle fit into the picture as well as that of past FBI cases? Is there more to this story than any of them are letting on? At this rate, most likely. Will Ryo and Dee get to the teens in time or has the clock run out on them all? And should anyone be wondering just how dangerous Kijika's sibling just so happens to be? find out in:

_**Chapter 3: Bikky and Lai Strike Back!!**_


	3. Chapter 3: Bikky & Lai Strike Back!

No signs of stoppin' this time people! My latest story appears to be an instant hit with all the hits it's receiving within just less a week of being aired. A real surprise for me I can tell you that. Though no reviews have been turned in I think all the people actually looking at it are enough. At least for now anyway. Oh well. On with things. Matoh-sama owns Fake, not me. But I'm sure all who've read my work knows what's my crap and what isn't. So read, review and enjoy!

"iii" speech

_iii_ thought

Chapter 3: Bikky and Lai Strike Back!

The rain started to pour out of the clouds harder than before, Gayle staring at them in confusion, looking between the people gathered and the picture in his hand. Obviously lost and wondering what the hell they meant, he couldn't help but ask. "Kijika? Who's Kijika? I don't think I've met him. Is he in this somewhere? Huh. Nope. I got nothin'. So who's this Kijika?"

"There! Right there! The one that's smiling! That's Kijika! But what's he doing in this picture? Do you know him?" Ryo asked almost desperately. At least now they knew where the teen had come from and had been lucky enough to find someone who actually knew him. Blinking and looking at the picture again, his expression perked. "Oh him? That's Evan, and the grumpy one's his older twin Ozzy. Inseparable; except for when they're called to do specific tasks that require one to be one place while the other's elsewhere. Evan's a good guy, doesn't like hurting people but only uses his skills in self-defense and what have you. Why? Do you know him?"

This question created another silence before Ryo decided to answer anyway. "Actually yes. Dee found him on the street yesterday and we brought him in this morning so we might be able to have him IDed but his injury reopened and we had to take him to the hospital. He's back at my place resting. I've even enlisted the help of a few teens to watch him for us." As he said this, Gayle's face went blank, his skin paling as his blood left his complexion almost instantly. "He was injured? When? By who? Is he okay?"

"Oh he's fine! He just needed a few stitches for what we think is some kind of stab wound. It's not very deep and is more like a scratch than anything. He just suffered dizziness and blood loss. Why? Is something wrong?"

"You can bet your ass! They must've attacked him when he was alone and he obviously bolted. He's a slippery dude so a scratch means they used some real firepower in the hopes of slowing him down. I'm not sure if they're watchin' your building but it's possible they jumped on the opportunity of gettin' him at the hospital but found me instead. This is bad. If they find him heavens above knows what they'll do. But since you've given him an alias means that he underwent some nasty shock and stopped talkin' right?" he asked, Dee and Ryo nodding to confirm, Gayle gripping his chin in thought. "Huh. Explains why you're not deaf yet. He'll snap out of it sooner or later. But for right now we need to keep a real good eye on everyone and everything around Evan, both those kids sittin' back at your place and ourselves as well. My guess is that they'll try and strike those kids first."

"You mean right now a bunch of crazy guys are gonna attack a group of teens? Why didn't you say so earlier?" the chief demanded as he rose from his seat and headed for the door. He didn't have the chance to touch the door handle as Gayle came out of nowhere in a blur of color and motion, using the crutches as a means to stand, his face covered in sweat and contorted by pain. However this didn't stop him from looking absolutely grim and commanding, looking the older man right in the eye. "No one's going anywhere. If it's anyone who's gonna be moving around it's Evan. I may not know what kind of condition he's in but if he's even half conscious he should be able to hold off a bar full of thugs if he wanted to. What you need to do is call that apartment and tell them to come here. And fast. No exceptions." He gasped as he struggled to stand, leaning against the door itself to keep from falling to the ground in agony, his leg throbbing like hell's fires. Diana had to get up herself to drag him back to where he'd been seconds before, gently replacing the ice pack as he tried to keep from crying out in pain. Amidst this he turned his close to blurry gaze toward Ryo, nodding in his direction. "Make the call. Get them over here. They'll need to be here to listen to what I have to say since they're involved enough as it is."

With a concerned expression on his face Ryo quickly pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial, his face unchanged as he listened to the dial tone. He started to fear the worst when a click sounded off and a familiar voice said. "Hello?"

Though still a bit shocked that Kijika had fixed the TV to work in bad weather, the four teens still enjoyed their after school time, having long since finished their homework and were now just being high school teens. Although the phone ringing soon interrupted all of this, Bikky got up to answer it with the phrase. "I'll get it!" quickly jogging into the kitchen, Bikky snatched the receiver and said. "Hello?"

"Bikky! I'm glad you're there! You need to get Kijika and your friends over here now! I can't explain it too well since I don't know that much myself but get over to the 27th as fast as you can okay?"

"Ryo is something wrong? Did something happen?" the teen asked, really concerned for his guardian now since his tone didn't sound right at all. But apparently the man wasn't in a mood to argue. "No time! Just get over here as fast as you possibly can! And hurry! Something bad just might happen. I'll see you soon."

Bikky started to protest when the line went dead and no sooner did he try to call the man back did the lights go out and the phone completely useless. The girls in the next room screamed in surprise, Lai calling out to the other teen, asking what'd just happened and why the lights were turned off. "I don't know! They just shut off!"

Their chatter was again interrupted by a mysterious thud outside the front door, resounding off the walls like makeshift thunder as lightening flashed outside, real thunder booming as the rain splattered windows let some of the flash into the apartment for a few moments before vanishing again. An eerie silence fell over them as Bikky hung up the now useless phone and picked up a flashlight out of the cupboard, coming back into the living room to stand with his three friends. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know but I think the fuses are shot. And Ryo just called saying we need to go to the precinct right away. He didn't say what for but we should go while we can. If we can."

"If you say so but in this weather? I doubt we'll even make it out the door!" Lai complained, and for good reason. The rain was coming down as though earth's gravity was too much for it, almost hard enough to dent metal and crack windows and the windshields of cars. Bikky couldn't help but think that there was something very wrong, and even though he knew the apartment to be very warm, it started to feel unusually chilly as the warm air started to vanish like it was never there. The loud thud came again, closer now and bone chilling. Something was very wrong and the kids couldn't help but think that the thud had something to do with it. Kijika, who sat up sleepily, was fully awake now and was searching the dark. Finding his shoes, his hat and his jacket, the teen stood up with a stony expression, going to the front closet to collect his friends' things even though they gave him confused looks. But Bikky seemed to know what the silent teen was thinking. "C'mon guys! We have to get to the precinct!"

"What for? Is someone out to get us?" no sooner had Lai said this, the door creaked under the powerful weight of something, the pound of flesh on wood resounding through the apartment like a dull bell. Kijika wasted no time heading for the fire escape, forcing the window open even when rain threatened to soak the floor. Out of all the time they'd known the guy, he'd never been this serious and it was a sign that he knew what he was doing. They just hoped he knew what was going on since they didn't. Just as the boys started out, the girls held back. "What's wrong?"

"Are you crazy? We're in skirts and heels!" Carol pointed out as Lass just nodded in agreement. Kijika seemed to vanish to reappear with two pairs of Bikky's jeans and some shoes he'd obviously found somehow, a backpack hanging from his shoulder and a blanket draped over the other. Not letting anyone speak, he shoved the pants into the girls' hands, with shoes and belts to boot, holding the blanket up to give them privacy while he deliberately looked the other way. A few moments passed before Carol appeared from behind the layer of fabric with a confused expression, soon followed by Lass who looked just as lost but both had adorned the pants and shoes. Seeing this, Kijika quickly folded the blanket and stuffed it into the open backpack, holding out a hand for the girls' skirts and heeled shoes. Blinking at this move they complied, their things expertly placed on top of the blanket before he zipped the thing up and nodded for the two boys to exit via the window.

Another loud thud echoed out from the front door over the pounding rain, the girls quickly stepping out onto the fire escape as Kijika shut the window behind them before quickly going to the edge of the metal railing, looking all around before doing something none had expected from him: he jumped over the side, the teen practically vanished into the rain but their fears were quenched when he landed on the railing of the level below them, waving for them to follow. Even if he couldn't speak yet, they didn't need to be told twice as they scurried down the metal stairs in the hopes of keeping up with their silent leader who was somehow moving faster than they were. He didn't waste any time pulling the escape ladder down to the street below, resting his feet on the concrete as he watched the surrounding area for unwanted visitors.

One came sooner than they wanted, the crash of a window being broken vaguely reaching them over the rain, making them look up as busted glass came raining down. Lass screamed as she scrambled to avoid the lethal shards. Carol, who'd been the next level down, nearly sent herself over the edge to dodge the broken glass. "Hurry!" she called, as she didn't hesitate to take on the next set of stairs with Lass not far behind, desperately trying to keep up with her friends. Another pair of shoes stomped onto the metal floor a few floors above them, quickly scaling the stairs in a way they'd only seen Kijika do. The figure was gaining even when the five were moving like crazy to get ahead of the stranger. Seeing that their escape wasn't going to be as easy as he'd hoped, Kijika climbed back up the ladder, instantly skipping the stairs by grabbing the edge of the level above and pulling himself up to grab the railing and repeated this until he was face to face with their pursuer, pouncing on the man who grunted while the two girls got far away enough from the struggle. But the stranger wasn't giving up without a fight. Hell no, he was there for a reason and he was going to do what he was ordered.

The blood of the two boys below ran cold when they saw what appeared to be a gun come to hand, Kijika obviously making him point in a different direction so that when it was and if fired, the shots would bounce harmlessly off of the metal escape platform and the brick walls. A few shots were sent off in meaningless directions, only making the stranger angry enough to kick Kijika off of him and take aim. But he never got hit since he'd jumped to the side and had proceeding to jump to the building next door. The figure stood in obvious shock as the teen bounced off the brick wall and down to the fire escape platform two stories down. It wasn't long before he took aim again, this time at the wall as Kijika made moves to jump two more stories, the other four teens already on the ground and watching in awe. The gun went off and the shot rang out over the rain, only for it to bounce off the brick wall harmlessly as Kijika quickly jumped down to the ground, landing on his feet to run out of the alley and toward the sidewalk not too far ahead.

Wind howling and rain crashing, the five disappeared around the corner, bolting down the street to zig zag around bystanders, people crazy enough to walk around in the rain and even a few people walking their dogs despite the weather. Kijika in the lead, made sure the other four weren't far behind as he expertly avoided people and cars, not caring that he almost got hit a little over six times. Hell he even slid over the hoods whether they were parked or not. Rushing through the busy streets of late evening New York, Bikky couldn't help but wonder just who Kijika really was. Little did he know just how soon he'd find out.

--**_Meanwhile At The 27th Precinct_**—

Diana was giving Gayle worried glances as the teen sat in silence, the cops around him sitting with tension filling the room to its rim. His breathing had evened out, clearly meaning that he was still able to last for a good ten minutes or so. The chief, all the while, was losing his patience with the teen. Slamming his fist on the table, he made all but the teen jump in surprise and some fear that he'd chose one of them to strangle. "Just who are you really? And what the hell does this boy mean to you? Fuck you haven't even told us who you work for!"

Gayle, opening an eye and staring at the older man across the room, giving the man a look that told him he should've kept his mouth shut. But instead of staying silent, the teen answered the question anyway. "Since you're so desperate to know, the name's Gayle Newman and the one you call 'Kijika' is my coworker and was on assignment prior to this buffoon bumping into him." He growled roughly, sounding exhausted as he gave Dee the thumb gesture. The man in question just glared but didn't say anything since the teen looked pissed off enough as it was. Ryo, naturally worried about the teen, leaned forward a bit to ask. "Are you sure you don't want to go back to the hospital and get that leg seen to? They could do a better job with that than us."

But Gayle just shook his head with a tired smirk. "Nah. They probably still have some hold over there and I know them well enough to know they don't target police stations or cop cars. Too noticeable if a cop starts actin' funny, even amongst their peers where it's obvious they don't seem to be in their right state of mind. My best bet is here where I can sit tight without gettin' attacked with a scalpel."

"What did happen over there anyway? Wasn't it filled with cops?" Berkeley pointed out, others nodding in agreement. It was true that if something were wrong, security would've shown up to take care of it and deal with the perpetrator. But in this case, for some reason, no one had shown up at all.

"That much I'm certain of but where they went is beyond me. The only cop I saw was Dee and he was perfectly conscious. My guess is that Evan's presence acted enough as of a protective layer to keep the guy from falling victim to their influence. How or why that is I've no idea but as long as that presence can last I don't think you've much to worry about on the field. But right now we all got the 'outta jail free' card in our pockets. Stick with my advice and pay attention. Don't wanna be blamed for gettin' on of ya killed by some random person out there."

"What do you mean by that? How do they do that anyway?"

Gayle's face was so grim; they felt themselves pale as he answered in a cold voice that sent chills down their spines and their hair to stand on end. "Do you really want to know?"

The room was silent, the teen's dark grey eyes moving over them before he continued. "I'll take that as a yes then. They use a skill that I'm pretty sure each and every single one of ya is skeptical about. A means that only those who know how to use it well can keep it perfectly under control with proper training or not."

He paused, watching them with his cold gaze as they sat staring at him with wide eyes, Drake trying not to crush his coffee cup he was so tense. Not soon after he continued. "But the way _they_ use it is illegal, dangerous and is terrorist activity in both form and idea, all depending on how you want to look at it. My group is specifically tested, gathered and trained to kill and or detain these individuals that work for one purpose, that purpose being to control and conquer anything and everything in sight, whether they actually know what it does, what it's meant for and why. From what we can tell, they don't really care either. They do what they want to get the job done, until it's done and rarely stop even when it's all over."

"You mean--?" Ryo stuttered before falling silent, Gayle just nodding before responding to the man's words.

"That's right. They're ruthless and uncaring as long as they get the results they want. My guess is that they thought Evan was carrying something they could use in their activities so they can do more than just what they want because they want to. They obviously thought it was going to be good at helping them do what they wanted, _when_ they wanted."

"You make them sound like drug lords or something." Dee growled only for Gayle to smirk at him and his antics on the subject.

"Because in a sense they are. Only they deal with controlling people in a different way other than crushed plants that people inhale so much at a time."

"H-how do they do it?" it was JJ's turn to stammer.

"That my friend, is the million dollar question that it seems, only I can answer for you. But I don't think I should explain much else. At least until Evan and those kids get here you see. They're in this as much as you lot are."

"How can you be so sure about that?"

"I just am. I simply am."

Bikky fought against the wind as they ran down familiar streets of eastern New York City, knowing they weren't far from the precinct as well as answers. "C'mon we're almost there!" he called behind him as he tried to pick up the pace, hearing the other three attempting to do the same. Just as they were about to enter the parking lot, Lass and Carol screamed, figures coming out of nowhere and in between cars to grab at the girls, holding them in place while a few more popped up with open hands, crow bars, baseball bats and a few handguns. All civilians with empty expressions and rain soaked clothes. Gritting his teeth, Bikky skidded to a stop and ran back with some ass kickin' on his mind as he dodged what little people there were that stood in his way. Lai right behind him, Bikky expertly shoved the two men hold Carol as Lai took care of the three holding Lass.

About to turn and head for the front doors, they found their path blocked and all four surrounded by people who looked asleep on their feet, completely dead to the world as they knew it. Kijika, some distance away, gritted his own teeth and bolted forward like a shot, grabbing his own arm and hunching over to plow into two of the people standing between them and the police station. Taking the hint, the four quickly ran through the opening in the circle, heading right for the front doors of the building. As the rain pounded the earth mercilessly, the five teens could finally breath easily in the lobby of the police station. The 27th Precinct.

No sooner did they catch their breath did Bikky spot a random cop and say. "Hey! Have you seen Officers MacLean and Laytner around?"

"Uh yeah. But they're in a meeting right now. I don't think--." The cop said, giving the teen a confused look.

"Where dammit!" he nearly roared, making the poor man jump and point down the hall, still trying to figure out who the teen was.

"Room 3 but--."

Bikky wasn't listening as he waved for the other four to follow him down the hall, leaving the confused cop behind, stuttering and bumbling like some nervous idiot. He wasn't in the mood for any more guff. He wanted answers, and he wanted them now. Not bothering to knock, the frustrated teen nearly destroyed the door when he kicked it open yelling. "RYO!"

"Bikky?! What the hell are you doing? Are you all right?" the blond man asked in surprise as the teen stood gasping in the doorway with a freaked out expression on his face. Lai, Carol, Lass and Kijika just stood behind the blond as he stood there, waiting for him to say something. Finally the teen spoke in a tired voice. "What the hell's goin' on in this damn city?"

"From what I can see, my guess is that our opponents were unsuccessful in detaining our counterparts there. That must mean their means of tracking any of us is lousy and their resources are small or nonexistent." A new but familiar voice said lazily on the far side of the room, making four of the teens to look and blink, Bikky exclaiming in surprise. "You're the guy from this afternoon!"

"Yes hello. Nice to see you too. Happy, happy. Joy, joy. Now are you gonna stand there like an idiot all day or are you goin' to get your asses in here sometime soon?" he grumbled in a aggravated voice. Still a little confused the teens complied, Carol shutting the door behind them as they others looked for chairs. Kijika instantly found one next to Gayle while the other four just gathered on the sides and out of the way a bit. Seeing that all were settled, Gayle turned to Kijika with a smirk. "Well Evan, it seems that you're in better shape than I thought. You have everyone back home real worried you know that?"

Kijika aka Evan just gave a sheepish expression and smiled warmly, making Gayle shake his head with a chuckle. The four teens nearby couldn't help but gape at this exchange and how natural it was, surprised even more that Kijika, who'd they just learned to be Evan, knew the guy they brought to the hospital not even half a day beforehand. Gayle, seeing this, decided to squelch their confusion. "It seems that some things need to be explained. Now close them jaws before your tongues roll out will ya? None of us are dentists ya know?"

"But-! How-? When--? You two know each other?!" Bikky exclaimed while Gayle just rolled his eyes and gave the teen a wry smile and a deadpan expression.

"Shocking isn't it? Are you done?"

This silenced Bikky as the four just sat in shock of this new development. It wasn't everyday you saw two possibly complete strangers acknowledge each other like they had when it seemed like they'd never met before. "So what exactly happened out there that got you guys all in huff on your way here?" Gayle asked smoothly, watching as Bikky's frustration flared back to life. "You're askin' that NOW?! You son of a--."

"Now, now. Watch your tongue. There are delicate ears in here. Now speak up before I ask someone else."

"WE GOT CHASED. SHOT AT. HELL WE ALMOST GOT _MUGGED_ AND ALL YOU CAN ASK IS 'WHAT HAPPENED?'"

"Uh yeah. What else can I ask? What's your favorite color?"

Bikky just growled in his fury as the teen continued. "How many were there between here and the apartment?"

"Just one at the house but there are at least ten that popped out of nowhere in the parking lot when we got here." the teen growled despite throwing a 'I'm gonna kill you' expression in Gayle's direction.

"Ten? Are you sure?" Gayle inquired, his expression cloudy now as Bikky threw up his hands in frustration.

"Hell no! We were kinda busy running for our lives!"

"Did they touch you? In any way?" he inquired again, urgent now as the teen just looked confused.

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Just answer the question or this crutch is gonna be up that smart ass of yours." The teen growled in annoyance, grabbing at said crutch for emphasis. Bikky didn't need a better reason to spill the beans.

"They got Carol and Lass but we got 'em off before they could do much else. Why? What's the matter?" it was his turn to ask as Gayle's expression remained clouded as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"Maybe nothing. But possibly, everything. You two girls, stand over here."

"What? Why?" Carol demanded, looking authoritative though frustrated and tired even when she was soaked from winter rain.

"Just do it."

"But--." She protested again but his stone voice cut her off with his expression turning grimmer than grim.

"JUST do it."

Choosing not to argue with the strange teen, the two girls moved to the suggested corner where there was still plenty of room to move and stand free of other people or objects, looking confused as Gayle continued to speak. "Now where did they get you? And don't lie. It could cost us everything and I mean more than just our lives."

"Well they got us on our legs, our wrists and I think one of 'em got one of us around the waist."

"Hmm. I see. Would you mind showing us your wrist please?"

Unsure of what to do, Carol turned to Ryo and Dee sitting not far off, both men nodding before she hesitantly rolled up the sleeve to her jacket to almost scream at what she saw, Lass jumping away as if burned, every cop standing up with ultimately shocked expressions, Lai and Bikky having blanched to unnatural shades. But Evan just looked sickened and a bit green in the face while Gayle just looked sad but grim nonetheless as everyone stared in shock. What they saw there just wasn't normal. Almost like a bruise, the mark was a deep, dark blue that was shaped a bit like a handprint but was distorted enough to look like someone had hit her there in a extremely vicious manner.

"And that ladies and gentlemen, is your proof that the force you're dealing with is all too real and very much here in this city. Proof that your guns and your cars won't be enough to stop them from doing what they want to do, when they want to do it, _because_ they want to. But for now, I trust you have questions?"

"You know damn well we've got questions! What the hell did they do to her?"

"Only something that can be done by those completely taken over by their influence, thus proving that they're desperate to find what they think will bring them more freedom in their warlike activities. If treated properly, both girls can be rid of such marks within a matter of hours. A day tops. Calm down Ms. Carol, you and Ms. Lass over there'll be fine. Since the contact was extremely and mercifully brief, it appears to be superficial from what I can tell."

"Is that a _guess_?" the blond girl hissed at him in fear and anger as he shrugged. "No it's called experience. Since you didn't feel it means that it was meant to numb you into getting dragged off somewhere. The perfect victims, and perfect bait and getting something they want and want bad."

"What do they want anyway? Who exactly are they?"

"The ones who tried to kill Evan and have failed even now. He's one of their prime targets. Oh he may look harmless now but when he's in the zone, well let's just say lots of things become dust or rubble when he's done."

Everyone stared in disbelief at Gayle, then at Evan who stared back innocently, looking a bit clueless despite being in the same room as everyone else. No one knew what to say even when Gayle continued to speak. "But right now that's not the point. Getting these girls rid of their markings is now top priority since they might hinder you later on. Evan?"

Perking up at the mention of his name, Evan turned to his counterpart and nodded at him in response, his face having gone grim again. Reaching into one of his coat pockets he pulled out what looked to be a tissue of some kind. It was a pristine white and oddly thin but pretty wide in all its other directions. One could swear it was a piece of paper if it didn't bend so easily and without wrinkling like paper normally should. The teen handed it to Carol before pulling out another one just like it and handed it to Lass as well. Staring at the strange things, Carol gave Gayle a confused look. "What're we supposed to do with these?"

"Try using it like a cloth on your wrist."

Still a bit confused but not wanting to show her unsteady but understandable lack of faith in the other teen, Carol proceeded to use the blindingly white paper-like thing on her left wrist. When she lifted it off her skin, what she saw surprised her. The strange mark, if you could call it that, was completely gone. Almost as if it was never there to begin with in the first place, having vanished as if into thin air. Looking at the white cloth thing, she was surprised again when it looked perfectly clean and devoid of whatever the stuff was. Reading everyone's thoughts on this amazing phenomenon, Gayle just smirked calmly. "Don't worry about it. That's what it's supposed to do. You can use it on the rest of the places they touched you and the result's will be the same every time. If you want, you can complete this task in the ladies room."

"Then what you said before-?"

"I was being sarcastic." He deadpanned. People just sweat dropped as Diana shook a fist in his direction with a glare to back it up, a vein on her forehead threatening to burst in her anger.

"Now that's just not funny Newman."

"Hmm. And to think you still had a sense of humor Diana." Was his calm reply.

"I do but not the kind of sense you're thinkin' about there smart ass." She growled even when he just smirked at her antics.

"Haha. Looks like someone's being grumpy! Still pissed off over last time?" this caused her face to turn a dangerous shade of red.

"DON'T PUSH YOUR LUCK YOU BASTARD!"

"Oh ho ho! Feisty as ever! No wonder close to everyone thinks you're a pain in the ass." Gayle shot back before she screamed at him again.

"SAYS YOU!"

"Yes says me." His smirk had widened as the woman fumed furiously at him, those closest to her backing away as much as possible. Being perfectly sensible, Ryo decided to come between the two before something bad happened. "Now, now Diana. There's no need to get angry. We still have other issues to worry about other than whatever crazy past you two have together."

"Thank you Mr. McLean for clarifying that for us. He's right in saying we've other things to worry about. And trust me, we do. They won't take this whole thing lightly since they lost their only bargaining chips at getting what they want to the very person they'd set out to take down in the first place. But for now I think we can relax for a bit since none of them have tried to get in here just yet."

"Yeah you said earlier that they don't target cops or stations. Why is that?"

"I'll say again that this enemy doesn't want to risk making people suspicious of what's really goin' on around 'em. If a civilian starts actin' funny or does something completely whack, then people either think he's crazy or he's in some kind of argument that's gone beyond just angry words that he or she spat into your face. Other than that they'll think he's protesting about something. But if a cop starts doin' somethin' strange, it makes people real curious, _real_ fast. Especially people like Evan and me. Dealin' with officers of the law gone bad is one thing, but law enforcers gone zombie is too much of a tell-tale sign of illegal possession or puppetry. They want to avoid that so they don't get our attention to the point where we try to figure out what the hell's goin' on." he said as calmly as ever, unable to keep from yawning as he finished. But instead of stopping there, he went on anyway.

"Since this is a police station and it's obviously filled with cops, I doubt they'll be pullin' anythin' off unless one of us goes outside where they can most likely get us for sure. My advice is to wait a couple of hours before goin' anywhere specific."

"And do what? Try and track them down?" Dee drawled lazily, giving the teen a bored look which vanished when Gayle upright and snapped at him.

"Are you really that stupid? Hell no! You act like nothin' happened that's what! If they think you're on to them, you won't be able to stand in line at the grocer's without gettin' jumped by the people around you! Much less the cashier but that depends on where you're standing. The last time a cop tried to find 'em like you suggested, they got mobbed by a bunch of neighbors from his own apartment building! Hell, even some old lady's cat did some real damage to his face if you ask me."

"Old lady's cat?" it was JJ's turn to inquire this time.

"You bet. But being attacked by someone's pet or some stray is kinda rare. So don't get too hyped up about it. For now, I think we should stay a bit before headin' home for the night. And one more thing."

The last sentence made everyone stop in their tracks when they tried to get up, about to clean up and leave. The teen's gaze was stone cold as he stared them down to speak in a tone that meant business. "Nothing that was said leaves this room. Trust me. No one but us will believe you in any way. Got it?"

They all nodded before Smith broke the eerie silence again.

"All right, I can't argue with that logic. You got anythin' else kid?" the chief said over the scrap of chairs on the floor. Gayle just shook his head before answering.

"Nah. I've said all there needs to be said for now. Need some sleep anyway." He grumbled almost to himself as the bags under his eyes became more obvious for those closest to see. He looked exhausted enough to doze off right then and there. Lass and Carol were the first to leave, heading straight for the girl's room with a distinct hope of getting the weird marks off before they got too permanent somehow. Dee, with Evan's help, supported Gayle in his own exit to the infirmary to get his leg properly examined while everyone else filed out accordingly. A good hour passed before everyone had fallen back into their regular routines, the four teens hanging out with Ryo and Dee in their office, Diana, Berkeley and Smith having a discussion of their own while Evan got some shut eye with Gayle in the infirmary.

--**_In the Chief's Office_**—

"Well that was the strangest conference I've ever attended. Diana? Could you explain to me why I should believe that brat?"

"Because I've seen all of it before plenty of times. That and if one of ours has also seen it, then you've no reason to doubt that he's telling the truth about what's goin' on out there. I know Gayle enough to say he doesn't lie about things like that. People like him tell it like it is or not at all. You can trust him sir."

"But what about that Evan kid? I understand that he's in a state of traumatic shock and all that but why agree to have an alias when he could've easily shown them what his name was?"

"Now that's a hard question. For one thing, these kids seem to work in their own kind of system that's much like the FBI or the CIA only on a more secretive and illusive scale that's so thorough even I have problems just knowing what _city_ they're in. Much less what country they might be in before they move again. Another thing is that working under an alias helps them move more freely rather than what their real names do to hold them back. I've actually seen one or two of them pretend to be full grown adults just so they can get what they need before they disappear again."

"They're that talented?"

"They're that _smart_. They can get through customs without a hitch. Without a passport or any kind of identification to say who they really are and where they're actually from. Hell I've seen one just waltz through a metal detector with at least three pocketknives in separate pockets on his person. If they can pull something like that off, they can do just about anything." The two men stared at her; hardly believing anyone could pull something like that off in an airport filled with hundreds of people who could neither confirm nor deny the fact that a 17 year old actually had weapons in his pockets.

"What about the people they're up against? Anything on them?" Berkeley said almost nervously, attempting to change the subject, cheering to himself when he found that he'd succeeded.

"No. Just as illusive but not quite as nice. As Newman said, they may not like anybody all that much but they know well enough to not step over the line as often as they normally do. I don't know who they are or what they want out of anyone… but listening to Gayle might be our best bet of stopping some of their plans from going into play."

"You mean listen to some teen who might be playing a weird game of 'Secret Agent'? I don't know what it was that made you think like this Diana but I need more to go on than just some kid's creepy ass warnings."

"But she may have a point sir." Rose's own argument brought the chief's attention to him, both looking the man's way as Smith gave him a questioning look.

"Berkeley? What are you getting at?"

"Sir, if Diana says that she knows this boy as much as she says she does, then that should be all the proof we need that he's not lying. And on top of that, why would random people go out of their way to attack a group of teens just because they need to get to the precinct? To me that doesn't add up but it backs Gayle's theory of how this terrorist group works. You top that with Dee's report and Bikky's story as well as the marks on the two girls, there's just no way you can doubt what's happening is all too real and we never noticed it until Gayle told us that Evan had been targeted."

"But he's just a kid! He could be-."

"Lying? From what I've heard and what I just might see, I don't think he is. I've seen people do strange things but nothing like this."

"Hmm. Fine, fine. I'll take his word for it. But if I find out he's lyin', his ass is going to be in a jail cell where his only option is to plead temporary insanity. You got me?"

"Yes sir." The two said in unison before leaving the room to their own devices. Diana didn't waste any time to question Rose, giving him an inquiring look. "Do you really believe what Gayle told us?"

"Don't you?"

"Of course I do but my question is do you? Or are you just pullin' my leg?" she asked with a dry look, making him smirk with a shrug. But he still looked thoughtful.

"Actually I don't know what to believe right now. It all seems so strange that there are people out there that can control others without even coming even five miles of them, much less even meeting them. That and you know a group of teens dedicated to stopping them in their tracks for mass destruction."

"Haha. Yeah, freaky isn't it? Well I don't know about you but I'm goin' to go get some beauty sleep. See you tomorrow tiger!"

He just snickered at the endearment as she turned to leave before heading to his own office to get some real work done.

--**_In the Infirmary_**—

Gayle felt a little light headed after being given a fairly strong sedative to work against the pain of his leg being reset and wrapped properly before being put into one of the beds to stare sleepily up at the ceiling. Evan had just gotten back from his own examination to ensure that his first wound hadn't opened up again as well as maintained any more new ones. He got off with a few bruises and a scratch here and there, practically free to go except to spend the night just in case of any complications that might come up. This didn't bother him. He knew he needed the sleep anyway so all he did then was take the bed next to Gayle's and waited for that Sandman to show up. Gayle, despite still being a bit sedated, didn't feel like sleeping just yet.

"Hey. Evan." He grumbled from across the room, sounding drowsy, his voice hoarse from fatigue.

The teen didn't answer, (mainly because he couldn't just yet) but looked in the other teen's direction. Whether Gayle noticed or not he didn't know, and he doubted he could but the other teen just went on anyway. "Your brother's… really worried you know that?"

He still said nothing but nodded enough so that Gayle would know he was listening to his almost drunken ramblings. "Your aunt was havin' a fit when I left too. I swear she's always pissed off about somethin' or other. But I think she just might actually have a field day when we get back."

Evan nodded again, his expression a little thoughtful but hadn't really changed that much. He knew Gayle was just talking because he needed to get it out before the sedative knocked him out for the night. "But I got the bag back though. I got it back for ya so that when this whole shitty thing's over, you can finish the errand. Okay?"

This time Evan didn't move, his face empty of any emotion even though they were both by themselves in the same room. "Okay?" Gayle said again, actually lifting himself up a bit to look right at the other teen across the way. "Okay?" he repeated, like a broken record that wanted to make sure the material had been played like it should've been. Evan didn't hold back a nod this time, knowing that the teen wouldn't stop asking until he responded.

"Good." He said with a sigh as he lay back down, shutting his eyes against the bright lights above him. Just as Evan was about to do the same, Gayle spoke up again, this time, in a softer tone than before. "Hey. I know you don't like some o' the stuff we gotta do sometimes. And I can tell ya I don't really like it that much either but… I'll help you finish it if that's what you want. I've no problem helpin' ya finish a job. But a job's a job man. And I also know that you know that you need to get over it but it's okay to not like it sometimes. Your brother hates doin' jobs like the one you were sent to do but he does 'em anyway even when he's just downright pissed off. Why? Because he knows that if he doesn't do it, it's possible that no one will. I'll shut up now. 'Night."

Evan stared at Gayle, thinking this over as he lay down, rolling over so that his back was facing the other teen, his ears picking up Gayle's calm and even breathing from across the room. It didn't take him long to fall asleep.

--**_In Dee and Ryo's Office_**—

Bikky couldn't be anymore bored than his three friends, two of which had come back from the restroom completely mark free. Now the blond boy couldn't help but wonder one very obvious thing. "Hey Ryo."

"Yes Bikky?"

"When can we go home?"

"Oh. Um well… I don't know actually. Maybe a couple of minutes from now, after we check on Gayle and… Evan." Even if he'd only known the teen for at least two days, it still felt weird calling him by a different name. Almost… alien compared to before everything had been blown away by Gayle's new version of things. Just what was really going on didn't make sense anymore, and he doubted that anyone who didn't hear the teen's lecture would say exactly what he'd thought of things some two hours before it all came crashing down on him. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Ryo finished up the last few papers, forcing Dee to do his own before filing them away properly and grabbing his coat near the door. "We're goin' to see those two first?"

"Yeah. You comin'?"

"Sure. Lead the way dude."

Ryo didn't say anything else as he headed toward the infirmary, with Dee, Lai, Bikky, Carol and Lass right behind him. It didn't take them long to find Room 4 after asking an attendant where the teens were staying for the night. Things had gotten quiet in the past hour and very few people walked the halls. As Ryo moved to turn the handle, he was surprised to find the door swing open a bit, light weakly pouring into a room of pitch black, dim lights coming in through the rain drenched windows accompanied by the occasional flash of lightning. Two prone forms could be seen, lying still on the beds inside the room, Evan with his back to Gayle who was lying on his back.

"Huh. They look fine to me. C'mon. Let's let 'em sleep." Dee said in a whisper, something he rarely did knowing how loud he could be. Ryo just smiled in agreement.

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that. Gayle looked so beat."

"Who knows what that kid's been doin' to look like that."

"See you guys tomorrow." Ryo called softly as he shut the door quietly expertly behind them, making sure the click of the gears wouldn't wake them up. The two men herded the teens to the front doors where Dee bolted into the rain to bring his car up so no one would get wet twice in the same night. Surprisingly, the drive back was quiet and peaceful unlike before, Dee dropping Ryo and Bikky off at the apartment building saying he'd drive Lai and Lass home before circling back. "All right but be careful." Ryo said with a stern face as Dee just rolled his eyes but nodded anyway.

Ryo shut his door and jogged to the doors before he got too soaked as the dark haired cop drove away into the hellish rain. Heading upstairs, the brownish blond couldn't help but sigh at the sight of what remained of his front door and living room window. Wood all over the place and pieces of glass shining on the floor, covered in rainwater as more of it came rushing in with the wind backing it up. With a sigh, Bikky put his jacket away. "I'll get the duct tape."

"I'll get a trash bag."

The clean up went silently, both doing their part in ridding their home of the unfortunate mess. Or at least that's what they thought. A new voice behind the two brought them around when it said. "Hey. You McLean?"

"AH!" both screamed out, Ryo quickly shielding Bikky from the intruder who, with good reason, just blinked in surprise. The newcomer jumped back and waved his hands in surrender. "Whoa, whoa! Chill dudes! I'm just here 'cause you don't got a door man."

The two blinked in their confusion as the new teen looked to find the broken window, letting out a low whistle. "Jeez, the window too? Man! Those bastards are a pain in the ass sometimes. Don't worry I got this covered."

"Uh… who are you?"

"Oh me? Oh snap I'm sorry! The name's Ramsey (1) and I got a call from Gayle about a busted up door. Guess he didn't know about the window though. But I can get that too when I'm done with your door."

"You know Gayle?"

"Haha you bet! He's a real kick sometimes. Got good judgment too. But I should really see to that door now." The teen mused a bit to himself, rubbing a gloved hand on his chin. This gave them a bit of time to look the kid over. Probably no older than Gayle but just a bit younger than Evan, Ramsey appeared to be healthy and fit for his age, deep brown eyes, a straight nose and well colored skin made up his face while what appeared to be a car repairman's outfit made up his attire. All of this was topped off with a mop of black hair set in lazy spikes; a few strands oddly dyed a shocking red.

"Oh you don't have to-." Ryo quickly said before the teen cut him off with a stern voice and a strong finger to the nose, looking the older man right in the eye.

"Whoa hey now! I came to do a job here dude and dammit I'm gonna do it! Now just chill and let me and the boys get it." He turned and called down the hall before Ryo could protest further. "Hey guys! Let's go we got stuff to do!"

No sooner had he said this did two more teens come in, each also dressed like repairmen with their own toolboxes in hand. Two of them immediately headed for the window in an amazing show of expertise, one already taking measurements while the other climbed through the window to do the same. Ramsey and the other teen headed back toward the front, examining the fallen door while also measuring the doorframe just before doing away with the trashed door. They worked surprisingly fast; all of the broken glass gone and the hallway clear of any and all debris that might've been forgotten, two of the workers having had already left after finishing the window. Oddly enough, they left without saying a word to Ryo or Bikky, much less Ramsey but it seemed the teen didn't mind when they disappeared on him.

Ramsey came back from the front, being trailed by a confused and rightfully suspicious Dee who gave wary glances at the teen's back. If he noticed at all, the teen didn't react as he smiled at Ryo, handing the man at least three to four sets of keys. "Here you go man. No one's gonna be gettin' with my work standin' in their way!"

"Oh thank you! I'm sorry you had to go through so much trouble. How can I-?"

"No need dude! Gayle owes me anyway. I doubt one more favor won't kill him anytime soon. You just have a good one okay? Bye." Without another word, the teen confidently walked down the hall, shutting the door behind him to leave the three in silence and the new keys in Ryo's still open hands. Dee was the first to break the ice. "Uh… mind tellin' me what that was all about?"

"Come to think of it, I'm just as confused as you on this one Dee." The man said almost blankly. Silence fell over them again before Bikky finally said. "I'm goin' to bed. 'Night."

"'Night." The two answered as they found themselves alone in the living room, Ryo still standing frozen with the keys in his hands. Dee saw it as his duty to speak up again. "You goin' to bed or are you gonna stare at those things all night?"

This definitely woke Ryo up, making him nod, set the keys down on the coffee table and headed to his room for some fresh clothes. Neither said anything as they both settled in and shut off the lights.

Aw damn that took forever! But I got through it no sweat! My fingers hurt a little and my head's tryin' to go in circles now and again but I'm okay! Seriously I'm okay so don't freak out or nothin'. Notes! Let's not forget notes people! 'Cause there's actually one to speak of and that kinda freaks me out but here it is:

1) _Ramsey_: a random name I chose for this particular character and I'm debating on whether or not he should show up later. It is his debut and having him become just another random creation would be kinda mean don't you think? Well his name's Old English for 'ram's island' or the 'raven island'. No idea why though.

I did have other names I wanted to chose for Ramsey's character but I can save those for later and what have you. But I guess I should get on to what comes next time ne?

Next chapter:

Chapter 4: A New Day Comes With New Problems

With Kijika's exposure to his truly being one named Evan thanks to Gayle's appearance and interventions, the guys at the 27th are _really_ hoping things don't turn for the worst. But in fact they do when the thought of Evan's dangerous brother out on the hunt for blood or worse can't stop crossing their minds. Even Diana proves useless in knowing what the guy can do and one can be sure that a lot of people don't really want to know in the first place! Can the report of Evan's safety reach the mystery sibling in time to calm him down or will he unleash his pent up wrath on and unsuspecting NYC? Will the guys ever find out what's in the bag that Evan was supposed to deliver before he was attacked and nearly killed? Find out in:

_**Chapter 4: A New Day Comes With New Problems!!!**_

And it's still raining!


	4. Chapter 4: A New Day

Finally a new chapter! Things are just pilin' up but that's okay! Why? 'Cause I'm actually havin' some fun with this one people! Yeah I know. I'm bored out of my skull most of the time and posting my crap every now and again might not please some people but for those who actually care, well my boredom becomes yours. Now to the good stuff: I don't own FAKE in any way or form, neither do I have claim to its characters or content because I was like… eleven when it first came out. The rest I'm sure everyone can recognize right off. Enjoy!

"iii" speech

_iii_ thought/digital text

Chapter 4: A New Day Comes With New Problems

Everything had started as normal as before, Evan obviously absent but all seemed to go like always: they got up to find the whole place untouched and in place from the night before, absolutely normal in every way. Breakfast was made and the three took their turns in the bathroom while Ryo took the time to give each of them a set of the new keys Ramsey had given him before he'd left. _Just who was that kid? And how did he know Gayle?_ The blond man thought as he worked with the sizzling eggs on the stove, Bikky having already eaten and left for school so minutes before. As Ryo's thoughts wandered, Dee stumbled in sleepily, yawning as he mumbled. "Good mornin'."

"Huh? Oh morning Dee! Eggs?" the man asked with a smile, Dee's sleepy look vanishing a bit as he collapsed into a chair. It wasn't long before he flopped onto the table top in his fatigue.

"Coffee too."

"Haha, on it." Ryo couldn't help but smile a little wider at how the other was so predictable as he put the finished eggs on two plates, setting one in front of the other cop as he sat down himself.

Just as he was about to take a bite, Dee broke the silence. "What were you thinkin' about?"

"Huh?" totally off guard, Ryo set his fork down and gave Dee a puzzled look. This just made him get poked in the face, Dee's face completely serious.

"Don't play dumb. I saw you with your turnin' gears. What's up with that?"

"Oh that. I was just wondering how that Ramsey kid knew Gayle. And I don't see how he could contact the guy if he was sedated."

"Eh. Who knows? Those two seem to be full of surprises. Can I have that coffee now?" he whined piteously, pretending to pout for emphasis.

"No." Ryo deadpanned with a smirk, getting up to head for the coffee maker anyway.

"Meanie." Dee grumbled mockingly through bites of egg.

"Yup, that I am." Ryo replied coolly as he sat down again, moving to eat his own breakfast before it got too cold on him. Half an hour later, they left to enter the light rain to enter the car parked not far away so they could start the ten-minute journey to the precinct. Driving off, both were unaware of the figure standing carelessly in the wind and rain on a nearby street corner, his sharp eyes watching the vehicle move through the streets before starting to move forward himself, away from the corner, careful not to get hit by oncoming traffic. No one even knew he'd been there in the first place.

--**_At the 27th Precinct_**—

Chief Walter Smith of the Eastern Bronx police station, sitting in his office chair behind a desk completely clouded by paper work and a coffee cup going cold despite being there for a good forty minutes sorting through papers he now knew he should've gone through the day before. But nooo! Some weird brat had to come and hold a conference for almost three hours. I wonder if he's still here along with that silent kid that McLean and Laytner met the other day. Shaking the thoughts away, the chief turned his attention back to the mess that had become his desk.

Berkeley and Diana however, were going to find that not everything was going to be normal that morning. As proven by when Berkeley moved to open the door to his office, he noticed a shadow move from under it, blocking the light a bit before moving out of view again. Cautious now, he silently turned the handle, he noticed a shadow move from under it, blocking the light a bit before moving out of view again. Cautious now, he silently turned the handle, expertly easing it open to find: nothing but an empty office room, the only living thing in it seemed to be him. A large stack of papers on his desk had apparently been the source of his alien shadow he'd seen under the door. _Huh, I could've sworn…._ He thought to himself as he moved toward the desk to deal with the fallen stack, completely unaware of the shadowy figure taking the ample time to slip out the door and into the hall.

Diana once again dressed to kill, had been strolling around the halls that morning to her friends' office, was the first to notice the stranger walking through the hall, weaving between people stealthily as if they were frozen or standing still. She knew these tactics anywhere. "HEY! HEY YOU! STOP!"

The figure, just as surprised as everyone else, froze for a few milliseconds before bolting in the opposite direction, quickly dodging people and objects as he headed for the front doors. Or at least, so he thought. It was some minutes before that Dee and Ryo had come through said doors, still dripping a bit from the now light rain still falling relentlessly outside. "Man even after all this time it's still rainin'? Dammit." Dee grumbled in annoyance as he tried to get the water out of his hair. Ryo just rolled his eyes. "You can't control the weather Dee. It should become snow sooner or later."

"Sooner or later he says! SOONER or LATER he says." Dee growled under his breath while Ryo just ignored him, staring at the odd commotion some distance from them. "Hey what's goin' on over there?" he inquired.

"Huh?"

This question was soon answered when the infamous figure doused in shadow came skidding to a stop around a corner, his scarf flapping like flags behind him as he set off once again: right for the front doors. Ryo, being himself as always, didn't know if he should block the figure or listen to common sense and get out of the way. Thankfully Dee made the decision for him by standing tall and strong with a pissed expression on his face as the figure kept on coming. Seeing his path was blocked, the figure once again skidded to a stop but instead of stopping there, he did the unthinkable. Looking around to see that every means of escape had been cut off and there wasn't anywhere to run, he straightened to say. "Well. It seems you guys aren't as stupid as I thought you were."

"Huh?" was all Dee and Ryo could say as Diana came stomping up from behind to screech.

"YOU!"

The teen turned to calmly face his pursuer. "Yes me. Nice to see you again Diana, and feisty as ever too. Still going against dress code I see. And to think you'd have been reported by now." The figure said calmly from behind his mask-like scarf, his hat and hair also doing well to hide his face from view. But the FBI agent wasn't in any mood for games.

"DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME! Where the hell do you guys keep on coming from anyway?" she yelled again as he seemed to raise an eyebrow at her.

"Uh… the door? Outside? A different part of the country perhaps? Hell overseas if you want to be so damn inquisitive."

Diana's face was changing colors as the figure stood coolly under her vicious and unrelenting glare in his direction, cops and civilians staring in confusion at the scene before them, knowing better than to get involved. "Uh Diana? What's going on?"

"Don't worry Ryo… just another one of the kids I told you guys about." She snapped at the poor man, her gaze never leaving the teen standing in the middle of the floor before them. Something about what she said seemed to strike a rather sensitive nerve with him as he spoke again.

"Oh we're famous now are we? Oh just wonderful Diana. Yeah, let's tell the world about everything there is to know! Who's next? The president?"

"Oh can it you! I outta skin you for runnin' off like that even after I told you to stop you little punk." She snapped as a vein threatened to burst on her forehead. The teen didn't seem bothered by this at all.

"But Diana! I have to get my exercise!" the newcomer whined in a mocking tone as Diana's face just seemed to change colors a bit. Within seconds, the teen was being dragged across the floor and toward the conference room. It wasn't long before the Chief and Berkeley entered in time to see Diana angrily toss the teen into an empty chair in a corner where his chances of escape were minimal. Under all the cloth that hid his face, the teen couldn't truly muffle the grunt that escaped his lips when he fell into the chair no thanks to a certain FBI agent. His silvery grey eyes gave her a beseeching look with hints of amusement barely visible mixed in. "come now Diana! No need to be so nasty to an old friend."

"Old friend my ass! What're you doing here anyway?"

"What? Can't someone see the sights? My goodness Diana! Since when were you so uptight about things people like me do?"

"You know exactly what I mean O'Brien!"

"Well if you must know, I'm here to confirm Newman's report. Since some things can change in-between such times as sending and receiving, I saw it as my duty to see what's been happenin' over here myself. Happy now? You damn banshee?"

Eyebrow twitching at the name but deciding to keep her cool, Diana rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Yeah, yeah whatever."

"Okay… right then. Bye!"

"Huh? What? FUCK!" too late. The teen was already more then halfway toward the door, slipping and sliding past the men that crowded the room, stopping only when he saw Dee was standing directly in front of the closed door. Growling at this unwanted development, what happened next was burned into their minds to be played over and over: jumping a bit into the air, the teen brought his right leg in and up only to have it come shooting forward to get Dee in the stomach. The sound of wood cracking apart and glass crinkling as it broke filled the air as Dee fell onto the floor amidst what was left of the door. Ryo stood frozen, but only for a few seconds. "DEE!"

Ignoring the man running past him to tend to his partner, the teen turned back to glare angrily at the remaining people in the room. "I'll tell you now Diana. Should I learn that you've told even more people about mine, I won't be so nice and let it slide. But for now I'll leave you to it. Remember your contract and next we meet… I just might be nicer to your friends here."

Calmly exiting the room, the teen stopped only to look down at the fallen man struggling to sit up. "I'll have Ramsey come fix this later. You two take care of my friends you hear?"

"Why should we listen to you?" Dee growled up at the calm pair of eyes looking down on him as he wiped some blood from his lip.

"I didn't kill you, now did I? That should be reason enough. I need to go get some sleep anyway. Next we meet, I just might let you have a free hit at me for this. Later." Not saying another word, the teen casually walked away and quietly exited the building as though nothing behind him had even occurred at all. Snapping out of their shock of what'd just happened Ryo helped Dee to his feet and proceeded to wipe the splinters and bits of glass off his clothes. "Who the hell was that?" the infuriated brunette demanded, giving Diana a pissed off glare but was surprised when someone else answered for her.

"That was Chevy O'Brien, my team captain. He overseers of our missions and you could say that he's our superior. Apparently he wasn't happy with what I told him last I contacted him."

"Gayle! You shouldn't be up!" Ryo exclaimed as said teen half shrugged as he stood with his crutches, Evan standing close by to make sure he didn't fall as he spoke again.

"That doesn't matter right now. What matters is that Chevy was here to check up on us, meaning that things have gotten pretty nasty out there. I'm actually surprised he was sober enough to come all the way here and kick your asses like he obviously has. We need to find out where our friends are so this can end, and soon."

"What's so surprising about him bein' sober?" Drake inquired evidently at his own risk. Gayle's grim expression should have said it all as he responded.

"When he's sober, he's not exactly a happy camper."

--**_East Bronx High School_**—

Bikky stared out into the rain from inside his advanced math class, trying not to let his thoughts drift too far to where he would forget where he was. He'd seen Carol and Lass a few times between classes but they'd barely had the chance to talk. But one thing was for sure, they were thinking about the same thing: just who was Gayle and Evan really? Were they who they said they were or were they just completely different people than they said they were? Snapping out of his reverie as the bell rang for lunch, Bikky scrambled to collect his things and leave the room. Weaving through the halls to walk past people and lockers, the blonde quickly entered the cafeteria to skim the crowd for his friends. It wasn't long before he spotted Carol waving at him above all the bustle and chat of the room.

He sighed in relief when he reached her table since he'd been forced to squeeze past people considering it was so crowded no thanks to the rain. It'd been almost a week since it'd started and had yet to show any signs of stopping much less letting up in any way. "Man this sucks! How can it keep on raining like this? It's outrageous that it's even _lasted_ this long!"

"Who knows? Maybe tomorrow it'll just be a light sprinkle and then we could actually see something other than gray for once. It just might snow like it's supposed to since its winter after all." Carol said hopefully cheering her childhood friend out of his frustrated musings of the weather outside. She smiled happily when it seemed to work a little. But only a little and a little was enough for her.

"I guess you're right. But seriously! The fact that it's been raining nonstop is really, really weird. In summer it makes sense but this? It's just plain weird." The blonde grumbled almost to himself, leaning on the tabletop in his aggravation.

"I'm glad you agree."

The newcomer's voice seemed to pop out of nowhere, monotone and lacking in the natural emotions required in human speech. Quickly turning to look at the speaker, the two could only let their jaws drop in shock: it was Evan, sitting plainly and calmly right across from them. Only thing was, his demeanor was completely wrong. It lacked the soothing warmth and kindness, having been replaced by an eerie aloofness that sent chills down both their spines. Unsure of just who this guy really was, Carol decided to test the theory. "Evan?"

The duplicate's face shifted a bit to a slight frown but he said nothing. At least not at first but responded anyway. "I see that you're well acquainted with my brother. How that's possible I'm sure I'll find out later but right now that's definitely not the point. The point is that you two need to be careful where you tread from here on out."

"Who are you? And why should we listen to you?"

"Because Gayle turned in a report last night that told me enough about what's goin' on to be out here where I could easily be attacked myself. That and I'm probably the only person in this building capable of keeping you two, not only out of trouble, but also very much alive." He said calmly though his gaze seemed to shift a bit toward that of irritation, his brow furrowing a bit more as he spoke.

"You that someone's out to kill us?!" the blonde boy exclaimed almost a little too loudly, rising to his feet as if the table was covered in something disgusting he hadn't noticed until then.

"Shush! Don't be shoutin' stuff like that kid! Geez! Do you want all these people to riot?" he hissed, pushing Bikky back down into his seat with a strong hand and a nasty glare to boot. It was obvious that this guy wasn't a happy person. "Then what do we do? I kinda want to go to college ya know."

"Che. Tell me somethin' new why don't ya? If you're so insecure then use this." He grumbled in his annoyance, sliding a silvery object across to them. It was a cell phone, and it was obviously new and up-to-date.

Bikky looked a bit skeptical. "A cell phone?"

"It's a special issue phone that only calls one of my team should you need us. It even has some kick ass long distance coverage. We managed to get it to work in tunnels too." He said, a ghost of a smirk on his face as if from some kind of small amusement while Bikky opened the device up to inspect it. The small screen looked normal enough but some of the options were a bit out of the ordinary.

"What happens if someone else uses it rather than us?" Carol asked, making his smirk last a little longer while Bikky closed the thing and stuffed into one of his pant pockets.

"Good question there kid. This baby's got a DNA recognition sensor in its keypad as well as the plastic stuff that hides all the tech inside. Should anyone other than you two or someone like myself use this phone, it'll just be a regular phone. Until then, it's a hotline connection to some extra help. If you need us that is." Evan's duplicate said calmly, his eerie monotone having taken over once again as the two teens stared with uncertainty at him.

"What about you?" she asked again, only this time the response was different. He raised an eyebrow at the question as he spoke.

"Me? I'm outta here. Later gators." He said casually before getting up and quickly vanishing into the large crowd of high schoolers. The two could only sit in their utter confusion and amazement as the bell for next class rang in their shock filled heads.

Hours felt like days as the two tried to wait the day out, hoping to find Lai and Lass in order to discuss what they'd been told. The rain was coming down almost in a light drizzle but still enough to be considered a fairly hard rain. Thankfully they didn't have to wait long before a familiar car rolled up to give them some proper shade from the weather. But instead of seeing Dee in the driver's seat, it was Ryo. "Uh… did you guys switch for some reason?"

"Yeah actually. Dee got a little banged up at work today so it'll be his turn coming in late tonight." _A little is an understatement but he doesn't need to know that does he?_ Ryo thought to himself, feeling a bit guilty about lying to his ward. If Bikky noticed this at all, he didn't show it as he deadpanned.

"So you finally got him to do his own paperwork huh?"

Ryo could only sweat drop at the teen. "I'm serious Bikky. Dee's not in the best of conditions right now but he'll be coming in later tonight okay?"

"Uh huh. Have you seen Lai or Lass yet? They were supposed to meet us by now."

Ryo looked over at the teen in confusion only to see that he was right. The other two had yet to appear and that was fairly unusual. "Hmm. That's odd. Where could they be? You think they could've taken Lai's car home today?"

"I don't know. I think they would've told us if that's what they were gonna do when school ended. Maybe we should go inside and look for them."

"Let me find a parking space first before we go running off." Doing as they were told, Bikky and Carol waited as Ryo brought the car away from the school's front and toward an empty parking space some distance away. Finding his umbrella and pulling his hood on, Ryo was the first to exit the car as the teens followed suit. Jogging toward the front doors and out of the rain, Ryo cautiously entered the school, Bikky and Carol not too far behind.

Naturally, the halls were empty except for a random teacher or janitor roaming around with some last minute work to tend to. Other than that, there was no one to be seen anywhere in the halls or the classrooms on the first floor. "Where could they be? It's not like them to just disappear like this."

"Disappear? That's it! Bikky! Do you have that phone on you?" Carol exclaimed excitedly at her own thoughts. But what she'd said had left he poor teen confused as he nodded.

"Uh yeah. Why?"

Ryo couldn't look any more lost as he tried to put two and two together. "What are you two talking about? What phone?"

"We'll explain later. Give it to me. I have an idea."

"Uh… okay but what-?" Bikky stammered but jumped when Carol finally snapped.

"Just give it here dammit!"

Bikky didn't hesitate then to give the angered girl the device as she immediately flipped it open, pressing the menu button as she did. The screen went blank for a few milliseconds before revealing a strange list of words that went down almost stretch past the screen's bottom side. The list went as such:

1)_Guides_

2) _Trackers_

3) _Research Assistance_

4) _Special Operations Division (SOD)_

5) _Coalition of Human Resources (CHR)_

6) _Home/Property Repair_

7) _Car/Vehicle/Property Repair_

8) _Navigation & Culture Research_

9) _Weapons Identification and/or Training_

10) _Last Resort_

Do not us option 10 for any reason without authorization or proper prompting from an official who is fully aware of what option 10 is capable of ensuing upon the carrier of this device and others within range.

The three stared at the bottom of the list in confusion but didn't dare question what it said. Maybe there was good reason why it said something such as that even though it was possible that the option in itself was relatively useless. "Uh… try number 2… it's kinda what we need right?"

"Huh? Oh! Oh yeah! On it!" Carol didn't hesitate to press the 'down' button so that the #2 option was highlighted, the words 'Select' and 'Exit' appearing on the bottom of the page. Not needing to think twice, Carol quickly found the button required to say 'Select'. Another list soon appeared in the place of the first, only this time it was a bit longer than the previous one. What it said however, was the confusing part:

1) _Bird_

2) _Dog/Coyote_

3) _Wolf/Fox_

4) _Bear_

5) _Ferret/Weasel_

6) _Mouse_

7) _Monkey_

8) _Rabbit_

9) _Cat_

10) _Lizard_

11) _Fish_

12) _Other_

"What the hell? What's with all the animals?"

Though uncertain himself, Bikky didn't really take the time to ponder such a thing. "I don't know but we should choose something before we start asking questions about what's in this thing. Try the dog one."

"Okay… if you say so."

Scrolling down again and pressing 'Select', yet another menu appeared: _Are you sure you've chosen correctly? Yes/No._

"Oh c'mon! Yes!" frustrated now, Carol seemed to attack the 'Select' button in her now boiling anger at the infuriating device. Just when they thought another menu would appear, something else came into view instead. _Please wait. Your request is being processed._

"Being processed? How long is that gonna take?" Bikky groaned as the digital hourglass appeared on the screen, seeming to dance mockingly at them. But what happened next proved that sometimes things don't take very long when the hourglass suddenly vanished to make way for yet another message. _Process complete. Incoming package._

Bikky was the first to speak. "Incoming… package? What the hell-?" he didn't have time to say more as the phone began to let off an eerie glow that almost blinded them as Carol cried out in shock, dropping the phone as if it'd burned her. As the light faded and they were sure all was clear, the three dared open their eyes only to be sent into shock at what they saw: a teen, dressed in a windbreaker and mud colored jeans with black sneakers, a farmer's cap keeping his oddly spiked hair from going everywhere while a scarf hid his face from view.

And apparently, he'd landed in a strange position. Legs over his head and his back curved in a very uncomfortable angle, the teen groaned as he managed to get his bottom half to face the right direction before rolling over onto his stomach. "That does it. I'm _soooo_ sendin' a complaint to the Dispatch Committee."

"Uh… who are you and how the hell did you get here?" Bikky asked uncertainly as a tired pair of silvery grey eyes met his dark ones.

"Huh? Oh hey there. Gimme a sec." The teen grumbled in a muffled tone of fatigue, using a voice that Ryo recognized anywhere. "You!"

Caught off guard and honestly confused, the eyes turned to the now angered cop glaring down at him. "Huh? What about me?"

"You're the one who hurt Dee this morning!" Ryo growled, showing his rarely seen 'I'm pissed as hell' side. The teen just blinked at this display of emotion.

"Ah him. I was cranky. That and I don't think I hit him all that hard either."

This only angered Ryo further as his face seemed to go a shade of red. "You put him in the infirmary for almost two hours!"

Unperturbed, the teen continued to stare at him calmly. "Is that so? He'll get over it. I'm sure he's been banged around worse than that."

"That's not the point!" Ryo snapped, uncaring of how loud he was anymore, Bikky and Carol doing well to keep their distances.

"I doubted that. Now do you need my help or not?" the teen inquired coolly.

This silenced Ryo as he instantly recalled why they were there. Taking a deep breath, the cop brought things back to the present. "Two of our friends are missing and we were hoping you could help us find them."

"I see. You got anythin' that's theirs? A piece of their clothing or somethin' they've been in contact with for a certain amount of time? Some random item they might've left with you? Anything will do really." He said again in the oddly cool tone that seemed to fit him all too well.

Searching their bags, Carol was the first to locate something. "There's this book I borrowed from Lass yesterday."

"I got some notes Lai gave me for my history class." Bikky said in turn, holding out said proof for all to see.

The teen nodded approvingly. "Right then. Fork 'em over."

"What?" they inquired, but the teen was running low on patience.

"Just give 'em here dammit. Sheesh." The teen grumbled, sounding almost beyond tired but was apparently holding his own against his fatigue. He almost had to snatch the things away, turning them over and around, he even brought them to his cloth masked face to smell through the fabric. "Hmm. The scents are pretty old and faded but I think I'll be able to pick up somethin' in here."

"Are you sure?"

"Haha! Are you kiddin' me? You're talkin' to one of the best trackers on the planet! Of course I'm sure! Besides, they don't call me Dog Man for nothin'. Let's head out people," he said in a voice riddled with amusement as he started to walk down the empty halls, his shoes barely even squeaking on the tile floors.

Snapping out of their dazes, the three had to jog to keep up with their new helper, Carol being the only one to remember to grab the fallen cell phone before moving to catch up with everyone else.

Bikky was the first to break the silence. "Uh do you have a name?"

"I do. Just like everyone else. But I think Ryo over there already knows it from this morning. Don't you Ryo?" the teen said, his tone still hinted with amusement as the cop in question tried to collect his thoughts.

"Uh yes. Chevy right?"

He nodded, not looking back as he spoke again. "Yup. You can call me that or Dog Man. Whichever one works."

"Does it matter?" Ryo inquired, taking his turn in asking.

"Not really." He said calmly, still not looking at them as they walked.

"How did you get here?" Bikky decided to ask again, curious still about what'd occurred some minutes before.

At first, he didn't say anything. But after a while, Chevy spoke again without stopping or turning around. "When he said to be careful where you tread, he didn't just mean your feet."

He refused to say much after that.

--**_At the 27th Precinct_**—

Things had settled down after Chevy had made his dramatic exit, the rain having come down to a relentless drizzle that sometimes gave way to cold downpours. Dee, now free of nurses and the foul smell of disinfectants, hissed slightly in pain as he sat in his chair behind his desk. _As if things couldn't be any worse._ He thought miserably as he leaned onto the welcoming surface of his desktop, watching with lazy optics as Ramsey spoke happily with Chief Smith and Commissioner Berkeley over near the conference room with its new door in place. The two men were understandably confused on why they didn't have to pay for the damages done to their own property but let it slide as something they could ask about later on. Giving the chief the new keys and a fairly warm handshake accompanied with a kind smile, Ramsey was off again, leaving a number of baffled adults in his wake. _A lot like what happened last night…._ Dee let the thought fade away as he tried to keep his focus on the papers in front of him only to find that it wouldn't be that easy.

Evan, who'd been sitting nearby while Gayle was still resting up in the infirmary, watched with innocent eyes as the older man practically fell asleep at his desk, face hidden in his arms while quietly snoring the rest of the work day away. Looking out the windows and into the pouring rain, golden green eyes watched the sky shed its tears as he waited for things to get lively again.

But just how soon was about to be realized as a slight rumble brought Evan out of his thoughts in time to see JJ on his way to give his crush the ol' bear hugs of a lifetime. He didn't hesitate to pounce on the man first, quickly slapping a hand over his mouth and nearly clothes lining him to the floor. About to protest to these actions JJ was silenced by Evan's stern expression and his 'shush' signal. Seeing these and the snoozing form of his superior, JJ didn't need to be told twice as Evan released him from his vice like grip.

_Man this kid's got quite a grip._ The normally hyper cop thought as he gave the teen in question a few manila folders he'd been carrying. "Give these files to Dee when he wakes up okay?"

Evan nodded in his silence, taking the folders and made sure the older man left so to ensure he wouldn't try to make a ruckus. But this calm didn't last long when the Chief came stomping over with a look that meant business. _This isn't my day._ Evan thought with a sigh as he set the files down on Dee's desk before moving to hinder yet another person from disturbing the snoozing cop. Seeing this as he approached, Smith could only shake his head as he stopped short of his destination. "Oh just wake him up and help him get home already. Can't have him gettin' in the way of things."

Blinking at this but not questioning the man, Evan nodded in understanding before turning back around in the hopes of getting the sleeping man to travel out into the rain to the car. _Eh. I'll give it a try anyway._ He thought as he nudged the man awake, only watching as Dee sat up with sleep filled eyes, looking around to find Evan staring down at him. "What is it?"

Since he couldn't speak yet, Evan's only answer was to lightly pull on the man's arm as if to drag him away but didn't. A bit confused by this action, Dee could only blink to clear his vision and his mind a bit more as he spoke again. "Is somethin' wrong?"

He couldn't feel any more helpless than he'd already was as he shook his head, pulling on the dark haired cop's arm again. Still a little confused, Dee just stared at the teen in his puzzlement before Evan rolled his eyes in annoyance. Finding a post it note and a pen, Evan quickly scribbled a small message down before pushing it into the man's face. Dee read it in curiosity. Chief said to take you home.

The words clicked in his sleep filled mind as he finally nodded, rising from his chair and grabbed his jacket from the back. "Can you drive? I don't think I can watch the road the way I am."

Evan nodded again, patiently standing by so the man could collect himself enough to where they could leave without a problem. They managed to get outside no problem, Dee collapsing into the passenger's seat while Evan calmly sat down on the driver's side of the car, inserting the key into the ignition in order to bring the large machine to life. He didn't hesitate to turn the heat up and the radio down, fully aware of Dee drifting off again into the deep oblivion that was sleep.

Driving off into the endless rain, Evan's oddly sharp gaze darted whenever it could, knowing well that as they left the police parking lot, they were also leaving a safety zone.

Man that took forever to finish! I'm sorry it took me so long to post but my brain's been on autopilot lately to where gettin' stuff done is a miracle in progress. But right now that don't matter now does it? Why? 'Cause I finally finished this chapter dammit! Even though there aren't any notes to deal with at the moment, you guys are welcome to message me about certain things that I've posted so far or just to tell me how crappy my work is. I could really use some criticism. I probably won't take it well but that's the life of a writer, as we all know. Anywho. Let's find out what's to come shall we? Here it is:

Next chapter:

Chapter 5: Turns For The Worst: Friends Lost

Say what?! Lai and Lass are missing? Dee's a little beat around the edges, Ryo's losin' his temper and Evan's on the lookout! Things are gettin' pretty wild here in NYC and it looks like the Boys in Blue might need to work a little harder in order to keep the well earned title of 'New York's finest'. Can Ryo, Bikky and Carol find their lost friends? Even if they have the mysterious Chevy, aka Dog Man, to help them figure out where they might've gone? Just what kind of strange things are going on to make grown teens pop out of cell phones and slip past competent cops in their own turf? Is it some kind of cheap-ass trick pulled off with crappy smoke and mirrors? Or, in all probability, could it truly be the real thing? Find out in the next installment of '_Spirits In The Rain_':

_**Chapter 5: Turns For The Worst: Friends Lost!!!**_


	5. Chapter 5: Turns For The Worst

Things have been kinda quiet lately and it's kinda creepin' me out y'all. I've been writin' my ass off for you guys and I still got nothin' review wise. What the heck? Is my work that bad? Oh who cares? As long as you guys read it and you guys like it, who gives a flyin' hoot? Oh well. That's just life as we know it. Anywho! I don't own FAKE in any shape or form though I wouldn't mind havin' a Dee plushie to huggle to death. Enjoy!

"Iii" speech

_Iii_ thought

_Iii_ written text

Chapter 5: Turns For The Worst: Friends Lost

Driving home in the cold rain, its almost melodic pound against the roof of the car filling in the calm silence of the vehicle while Evan took everything in stride. Turning corners as if on a dime and keeping the large contraption at a safe speed, Evan made it look as easy as sleeping. Even though Dee was asleep, the teen's road etiquette was enough to keep the poor man snoozing the ride away. Pulling up to the curb, the teen brought the car into park and turned it off. Looking to his right, watching the older man doze, he only stayed there for a few seconds before exiting the car and entering the cold winter rain.

Ignoring the vicious bite of ice-cold water from the sky, Evan leaned back into the car to grab the umbrella, opening it from himself as he closed and locked his door before going around to the other side. As gently as he could, the teen opened the passenger side door and moved to unbuckle the barely conscious man before lifting him out of the car and under the umbrella as he kicked the door closed. Locking it behind them, Evan soon lifted the man again in order to get them indoors before they got too soaked.

Getting the dark haired cop inside the building was easy enough, but Evan tried not to hit his head against a nearby wall at the sight of the many flights of stairs they'd have to take just to get to their floor. Closing the soaked umbrella, the teen looked around for a back up plan only to silently thank whatever gods that were listening for what he saw: an elevator.

_Thank the Heavens for small miracles._ He thought as he moved toward the panel and pushed the 'up' button, waiting patiently with Dee's still snoozing self not far off while the doors finally opened to reveal the finely furnished mechanical box that sadly only went in two directions. Evan quickly dragged the cop inside the enclosed space, pressing '10' and watched the doors slide to a close.

Just as he let his thoughts wander a bit, the sound of the elevator's bell snapped him back to reality, the door's smooth glide giving way to an empty hallway. Evan was quick once again in grabbing the cop under the arms, lifting him off the floor and proceeded to drag/carry him toward the apartment door. Just by looking at it he knew he wouldn't need the key to open it, much less touch the handle to get it open. _Huh. Man, that guy works fast. That's Ramsey for ya. _

Nudging it with his foot, he couldn't help but smile as the door quietly swung open, allowing him to enter unhindered. Knowing that no one would see him with the unconscious man in his grip, Evan pulled said cop into the apartment with the same unrelenting strength he somehow possessed. A soft click from the door behind him was all he needed to hear as he went to put his living load to bed.

--_**Meanwhile, At East Bronx High School**_—

Despite not looking the part that much, Chevy was proving to be a very fast moving person, even though he seemed to have some kind of weird sway in his step as he went along the empty halls. Carol, Bikky and Ryo were already having problems enough at even understanding how he'd gotten there in the first place but didn't dare ask after what'd he'd said some time before. But this didn't keep them from asking different kinds of questions. Ryo was the first to speak. "Anything yet?"

Chevy didn't turn as he paused to somehow sniff the air through the scarf that covered his face. Eyes of silver grey seemed to drink in everything within range as he looked around before speaking. "Not much but this area's a bit concentrated. Most likely a regular class or two your friends might be taking this semester. Nothin' too special."

"But is it getting stronger?" Bikky inquired, hoping that the teen had some idea where his friends might be. But Chevy seemed a bit skeptical.

"Can't really tell. There are too many scents here, all mixed together into one stinky mess that'd have had me sneezing if not for this scarf." He grumbled almost to himself but said it loud enough for them to hear. Bikky just gave the teen an annoyed look before speaking again.

"And that means that all of this is pointless?" he demanded, sounding irritated at their supposed guide whose calm demeanor had yet to change.

"Not necessarily." Was the calm reply as he turned a bit to his left.

"What do you mean?" Carol asked, taking the opportunity to get a word in.

"I'm pickin' up some weird smells from that way and a bit from over there but…" the teen paused, as if uncertain of what to say. Unfortunately, today was the rare occasion where Ryo was running low on patience as he spoke up.

"But what?" the cop asked, edging on desperation for answers.

Chevy rubbed his chin through his scarf, seeming to contemplate something as he spoke again. "It might be nothin' but I doubt it is by this point."

"Then get to it!" Bikky growled, looking annoyed.

"Point is... we just might have a raid on our hands." The three froze at this, their minds trying to process what he'd said. Bikky soon broke the silence.

"A raid?" they all asked in unison, each equally confused.

Chevy nodded. "Yup, you bet. Though it's unusual for any of them to invade a public school. It's not exactly something that fits their normal patterns."

"Meaning they don't do this often." Ryo said in a thoughtful tone, making Chevy nod again.

"Exactly. Actually this is a rare event in itself but I remember enough from my training to know what we can and can't do about it. For now, we should keep looking to see if we can't find anything that doesn't belong so I'll need you guys to be watchin' for anythin' strange."

This brought about confused expressions, eyebrows raised. Bikky couldn't hold back his exclamation. "What? Why us? Can't you tell what does and doesn't belong?"

"I never went to high school." Chevy deadpanned, nearly making the blonde anime fall before he just scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Carol decided it was her turn to ask questions. "Oh. Then where did you go?"

"Home schooling." His tone had a calm ring to it, but Ryo gave the teen a thoughtful look when he heard the sadness hidden away in his voice. Bikky and Carol didn't seem to notice as Carol spoke again.

"Really? What for?" she asked innocently, unaware of how the teen before them bristling instinctively.

"Are you gonna keep watch or not?" this was said in a fairly irritated tone, sounding snappish enough to make the two teens nod. To that, Chevy merely grunted before turning away to sniff the air again. They didn't hesitate to follow him when he moved down another empty hall, the roar and whistle of rain and wind the only thing echoing off the walls.

--_**Ryo's Apartment**_—

Knowing that Dee was still out cold and the answering machine was empty of messages, Evan padded around in slightly soggy socks toward the kitchen in the hopes of finding something worth making. He couldn't help but feel a little tired himself but he fought against the sleepiness that attempted to take over his brain. Turning the corner into the pristinely clean kitchen and heading straight for the fridge that he immediately opened to survey its contents, hoping there was something he could get in his stomach before getting some shuteye himself. Getting some juice and some leftover chicken from the dinner two nights before things got hectic, Evan made a plate for himself before sticking it in the microwave. Watching the food slowly spin in the machine, Evan felt something behind him move, the flow of energies in the room changing to make way for the new source that lazily made its way inside.

Quickly turning and almost jumping away, Evan blinked to find Dee standing some few feet away, his eyes still a little heavy from sleep but he seemed conscious enough to know his own whereabouts. "What's cookin'?"

Evan blinked again but soon realized that Dee was referring to the microwave, its shrill beeping taking up the silence, the teen moving to open the door in order to carefully remove the plate. Not knowing if the man was hungry enough to eat his food and since he couldn't exactly ask, all Evan did was give the cop an inquiring look. Somehow getting the message in his muzzy state, Dee shook his head and went straight for the coffee maker on the opposite side of the room. Despite having his back turned, this move still earned him a raised eyebrow and an amused roll of the eyes from the teen who sat himself down at the table.

Silently digging into his freshly heated meal, Evan carefully watched the sleepy cop out of the corner of his eye to ensure he didn't do anything hazardous in his heavy-eyed state of mind. Thankfully all the man did was open a cupboard in order to find a mug and poured some of the dark liquid into it, putting a spoonful of sugar or two in, stirring them in as he headed to the fridge in search of cream. It didn't take Dee long to take a seat in one of the chairs near Evan's. The teen ignored him even though he knew that the older man, who randomly sipped the hot brew, was staring at him.

"Do you know what's goin' on in this place?" Dee asked lazily, giving the teen a thoughtful gaze from over his coffee mug.

Evan was caught off guard by the sudden question, pausing in taking another bite of food to look at the cop with a look of confusion. Tilting his head, his expression shifted a little to one of inquiry. Dee just snickered with a smirk as he shook his head at the teen's silent response. "By now I doubt even you can answer that. We're all so out of the loop to where it's almost funny."

The teen felt a little worried now, the man's words not making much sense in his mind, the plate of food before him temporarily forgotten as he tried to piece things together while Dee kept talking. "I didn't expect an answer from you anyway since you can't seem to talk yet. But I don't blame ya. You're just one of the people caught in the middle of it all, just tryin' to keep goin' while things get crazy. But still, I can't help but wonder what that head of yours is hiding' from everybody." He mused before sipping his coffee again.

Evan was really suspicious now. _Is this guy drunk? Is he even conscious of anything? I doubt he even knows what he's saying right now. Did he put something in his own drink to where he'd say funny things just to freak me out?_ Apparently not amused by Dee's strange words, Evan got up to inspect the insides of the fridge so as to count all of the beers inside. From small past experience, Evan knew that Ryo wasn't even a drinker and that Bikky was underage, but Dee… Dee seemed to be the kind of person who got drunk for the hell of it.

_Hmm. Interesting. All of them are unopened so that means he used the cream or the milk when he was in here._ He thought as he grabbed the cream carton and sniffed at it, satisfied to find nothing wrong before going for the milk. Closing the giant contraption again since he'd found nothing there, Dee watched Evan curiously as he walked across the room to the coffee maker to open its lid and look inside. Finding nothing the teen went to the sugar bowl only to come up empty again. _Only one possibility left. Well, here goes._

Dee jumped when Evan suddenly seemed to appear next to him, feeling his forehead in search of what he could only guess to be his temperature before switching to his wrist to find his pulse, watching the clock on the wall for a while. Pulling away in confusion and exasperation Dee gave the teen a weak glare. "What are you doing?"

The teen said nothing but instead looked around again, this time finding what he was looking for. Grabbing a notepad and pen from one of the counters, he immediately started to scribble something down. When he was done, he pushed it in Dee's direction for the man to grab and inspect. What he read seemed to click.

_You said something strange and so I went to see if you'd put something in your drink to make you be strange. Then I looked to see if someone had done it on purpose. When that didn't work I looked to see if you were sick._

"Oh. I get it. You had me lost there for a minute. Ok I know I'm not sick and no I didn't do anything to my own damn coffee. And I know that sure as hell that no one got in here to do somethin' like that to me either. Happy?"

Evan nodded quietly, a small grin making itself at home on his face before moving back to his previous seat to finish his forgotten and hopefully not cold meal, leaving Dee to his late afternoon coffee.

--_**At The School, Some Hours Before**_—

Lass had been trying to get through the crowds to her next class, disappointed that she hadn't seen either Bikky or Carol all day. _And I couldn't find them in the cafeteria either! Where were those two anyway?_ She thought in her frustration, nearly tripping for the third time that day as she totted her books as easily as she could. Upon entering the room did she sense that something was a bit wrong with it. Nothing obvious or visual, but something in the atmosphere instantly put her on edge, chills going up and down her spine as she nervously took her seat in the second row of the classroom. She never noticed who'd she'd sat down next to until he caught her attention in a way that nearly made her cry out in panic.

He looked like Evan, and seemed to be dressed a bit like him, but the look on his face and the shine in his eyes were completely wrong. Lass felt like running from the room and never coming back just by the way he was staring at her. And he didn't look happy at all. Not in the slightest. Narrowing his eyes at her, he grunted before saying roughly. "Well, well. So you noticed after all. That's very good, very good indeed. Proves that you're not stupid."

Lass felt herself go red in the face with rage at the Evan look-alike's last comment but he cut her off before she could say anything. "No need to get all in a huff. I don't want to be here anyway. But I gotta be since it's protocol."

"Protocol?" Lass inquired, confused.

"You know about it am I right?" he asked, his eyes seeming to burn into her skin.

"Yeah… and?" was all she could say in her nervousness due to that demonic gaze bearing down on her.

"Then shut up and listen." He snapped, suddenly irritated, making the poor blonde jump at his tone. "Cause I'm only gonna say this once. First: I know exactly how girls like you are so don't go chatter boxing about my guys or me. Ever. Second: you might need this."

As he said this, he'd reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a flip cell phone, its silvery surface gleaming in the artificial light. Opening it up, Lass inspected the thing only to find it looked completely ordinary in every way.

"You want me to have this? It's just a phone! What's it good--?" she didn't get to say more as the teen next to her just rolled his eyes and snapped again.

"Plenty. Trust me. Its _extra_ordinary functions will only operate for you and your friends who also just so happened to be involved. With everyone else, it's just some phone they can call their car dealers with."

Unfortunately, Lass was still a little confused about this. "But how--?"

"Simple: when you touched it, it's DNA identification program kicked in and stored you in the main server that's hundreds of miles away. This baby's built to work where other phones can't." he grumbled in annoyance. But something else in his voice told her that he was just boasting about the thing, and not getting angry over her questions. For the moment, she let it slide.

"So how does this help me? At all?" she asked, sounding absolutely skeptical.

He just sighed in deep irritation but answered anyway. "If you need help, this thing will get us to come help you. It won't matter where you are or what's happening. All you have to do is use it and it'll do its part. Simple as that."

"You mean… against those strange people?" Lass had to ask in her fear and curiosity, already shivering at the memory of ordinary people suddenly turning to attack her for no apparent reason.

"Shush woman! Not so loud! And to think those other two were dumber than you!" he growled angrily, sending cautious glances around the room as other students got into their seats for class, still ignoring the two as they went about their business.

"Other two? You mean Bikky and Carol? I haven't seen them all day! Do you know where they are?" Lass asked almost desperately.

The Evan look-alike looked bored out of his mind, raising an eyebrow at her as he responded. "In class most likely. Duh! Does it look like I know or care?"

She couldn't help but sweat drop at his response. "Uh… not really."

"Didn't think so." He growled, rising from the desk next to hers. "Later."

"Wait!" she said suddenly, making him pause and look back at her, still looking extremely bored out of his skull.

"Hn?" he grunted in annoyance.

"Other than giving me this… phone thing… why'd you come here?" _I can't believe I just said that._ Lass thought as she waited for her answer to come.

He just stared at her. And stared, almost as if she'd said something completely random, and that it'd made no sense whatsoever. And stared some more with a very emotionless look on his face. "What… the hell kind of a question is that?" he growled, his expression never changing as Lass desperately tried not to blush.

When she said nothing else, the teen sighed in aggravation, turned toward the classroom door and in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Giving her no chance to question where the teen had gone and how, class quickly came into session as soon as the teacher walked in to start his lecture.

--_**With Lai, A Few Minutes Later**_—

Sitting in the library, studying up for a test he had in almost an hour, Lai scanned the pages of the book in front of him while trying not to let his thoughts about the busy lunch hour get in his way. But sometimes even your thoughts just don't listen. _Where were Bikky and Carol? I found Lass just fine but… those two just weren't there! Why is that? Did they get caught up in something? Or was it something else entirely? Could that weird group Gayle was talking about the other day've attacked them?_

"I don't know. You tell me." A strange voice suddenly said, snapping the raven-haired boy out of his thoughts.

Jumping in surprise, Lai nearly fell out of his chair when he saw an all too familiar face right across the table from him, giving him the utmost bored expression he'd ever seen. "E-Evan!?" he stammered, utterly surprised to see the other teen there at all, and at his school no less.

The Evan look-alike just scoffed in irritation. "Why does everyone think that? Ugh. I swear some people are just plain stupid sometimes don't you agree?" he growled with a slight sneer on his smooth face.

Lai was shocked. The Evan he knew couldn't talk, at least not yet anyway. And even if he could, something told him that he wasn't this rude or nasty at all. Effect: instant suspicion. "Well if you're not Evan… then who are you?"

"Hm. And to think you actually have the brains to ask me that." The teen growled, smirking in amusement now despite the fact that the rest of his face had yet to show any kind of expression at all. "But sadly, unlike your blonde friend, I choose to leave that answer box blank thank you very much."

Lai couldn't help but sweat drop at this. "And why is that?"

"I like watchin' people blow their brains out just tryin' to figure people like me out. Besides. Why ruin the fun by telling you my name?" the teen inquired with a mocking look, his cold, sharp eyes seeming to flash with mischief.

However, Lai wasn't impressed, just annoyed as he spoke again. "Who are you then? Rumplestilskin?" he asked, his words just completely drenched with sarcasm.

"Haha very funny. I've met that shrimp but trust me. I'm not him." the teen dead panned, catching the raven completely off guard to where he almost forgot where he was and why. Blinking at the teen's words, Lai could only say one thing:

"Huh?!"

The teen nodded, as if in acknowledgment to the boy's surprise. "Tell me about it. He's a sneaky little bastard. Had to put that little snake into a box for stealin' that one rich lady's baby. A life sentence I think is what he got. I think they buried it too, just to make sure he wouldn't go anywhere. Love to see how he gets out of that if he tries."

Lai was just plain stunned at the other teen's words. Everything that was coming out of his mouth was just plain unreal and made hardly any sense whatsoever. "What do you-?"

He didn't get to say more as another student wandered over to where the raven-haired boy was sitting. "Lai-san? Why are you talking to yourself? Are you practicing for a speech or something?"

"Huh? Uh… well I…." _Doesn't this guy see him? Can't he see that I'm not alone over here?_ Lai thought as he tried to come up with a good excuse.

The student didn't give him a chance to say much else. "Hmm. Whatever it is keep it down! Some people are tryin' to ready okay dude?"

"Uh… yeah… sorry." Was all the raven could say in response as the student wandered off again, leaving Lai and the other teen to themselves. "How come he didn't notice you?" he immediately asked, giving the other teen a nasty look.

The Evan look-alike just stared coolly before answering. "Unlike you, I can become invisible to the human eye. I can also make another human think that they never saw me, even though they've seen me pass them by, in plain view. You seem to have some talent of the mind, but only enough to save yourself from breaking a leg or calling for help."

Lai blanched at this, his voice coming in a whisper. "How do you know about that?"

The teen scoffed again. "You say that as if I should be blind. I can see it, quite clearly too. Your aura's a bit strong for a human's, and your DNA strand appears to be a little more complex than most."

"Do others have this… difference?" Lai inquired hesitantly, a bit curious on the subject even though the other teen didn't look interested at all.

"Only if they concentrate like you. Kinda like your girlfriend over in the physics classroom." The teen said in a fairly bored tone.

"Physics? That's on the other side of the campus!" the raven-haired teen exclaimed in astonishment.

The teen shrugged with a tired sigh and a nod. "Tell me about it. 'Cause it took me a little while to get over here. But I should be getting on with business since that's basically why I'm here in the first place."

"Huh?" Lai could only say in his confusion, watching the teen search his jacket for something.

"Found it." The teen stated in the same bored tone as he brought something out of his jacket pocket and put in onto the table between them. "Here ya go."

Lai could only stare at the object with the greatest amount of confusion anyone could muster. "W-what? A phone?"

"Yup." The teen said with a nod, still sounding a bit irritated.

"You came all this way to give me this? What for?" Lai demanded, remembering to keep his voice from getting too loud again as he spoke.

"So you don't get killed. That's why." Came the simple answer that silenced Lai for at least a good twenty seconds.

"W-what?! Killed? By who?" the raven-haired boy stammered, blanching from the thought of being knocked off a bit too early in life.

The other teen just shrugged, the bored expression still gracing his smooth features. "Anyone. Anything. Anywhere and anytime, regardless of what's going on around you. Anyway, that's yours to hold on to and use for when you get into a corner that you can't escape. Trust me. You're goin' to need it sooner or later."

Lai could only stare at the phone on the tabletop before him as the other teen rose from his seat to leave, the chair not even scraping the floor as he did. "See ya around kid." He called as he walked off, his back turned away from the teen still sitting at the table behind him.

The raven-haired boy didn't notice until he was almost gone. "Huh? Wait!"

The other teen paused, turning around a little bit with an inquisitive look on his face. "Hn? What now?"

"Why?" was all Lai could think of to say, already kicking himself for not being able to add more of it.

The teen didn't say anything at first but turned away again, waving lazily before seeming to vanish amidst the shelves like a ghost.

Lai could only stare at the now blank space between the bookcases, his test now forgotten as he sat in a daze, the new phone in hand. It wasn't until the bell rang that he snapped out of his stupor, quickly collected his things and left for class, the teen's words still resounding in his head like a thunderous echo that refused to fade.

--_**East Bronx High, Present Time**_—

Bikky, Carol and Ryo, despite wanting to believe in Chevy's tracking expertise, were truly starting to believe that the guy was leading them around in circles. True he'd said that he was trying to decipher Lai and Lass's smells from that of the other ones made by the rest of the student body. "You think this is easy?" he would grumble from where he was ahead of them, walking with a slightly drunken shuffle. "I'd like to see you try to find two people out of almost two thousand other students sometime."

At first, none of them could think of a response to this and dared not irritate the teen more than he already was. But after a while, Bikky could already feel his own anger getting the better of him as time really started to tick by. "Hey are we gettin' any closer to finding them yet?"

"Not sure but I'm pickin' up somethin' in this direction." Chevy said in a thoughtful tone, pointing to a hallway to their left. One they were sure they hadn't gone down before.

"Do you know what it is?" Ryo asked, leaning his head a bit as if trying to see farther than one in a straight posture could.

Chevy just shrugged, his silvery grey eyes surveying the empty space just as thoughtfully as before. "It could be your friends but I think it's somethin' I'm used to bumpin' into."

"Meaning?" Bikky inquired, taking his turn to talk again.

"Give it a minute." The teen said in a patient tone, not taking his eyes away from the said area of space that stretched away from them.

It only took a good thirty minutes for a small figure with the build of an eight year old to come running top speed around a corner, skidding to a stop before running off again. Heading right at them. As the other three panicked, Chevy didn't move as the small figure came zooming down the hall before it shouted in an obviously feminine voice as it suddenly leaped at the teen. "CHEVY NII-SAN!"

"Huh?" Bikky, Ryo and Carol could only exclaim as Chevy let out a chuckle as the small girl collided with him at break neck speed, nearly knocking him over in the process.

Much to their amazement, it was a small girl, most likely ten years of age with long brown hair the shade of sand wood and had eyes that would put the most vibrant iris or lavender to shame. Her skin appeared sun kissed and warm, her clothes, thought a little baggy but fit well enough, were slightly vibrant colors compared to the neutral and muted ones Chevy had on. Thought everyone else was surprised at this great show of affection, Chevy didn't seem bothered in the slightest.

"Hello Kiku-chan! How's my little sis doin' today?" Chevy could only say while trying not to laugh at the girl's excited antics.

"T-that's your sister?!" Bikky exclaimed in shock at the girl nearly squeezing their guide to death.

"Who'd you think it was? A tailless monkey?" the teen inquired from under his mask-like scarf, seeming to have an amused tone by now.

"Hey!" the girl said with indignation, swinging a kick at Chevy's legs. Lucky for him, she missed. Pouting almost cutely, the girl folded her arms and turned away as Chevy continued to hold back his good-natured laughter.

"Okay, okay sorry. It's just a joke sis! Now what're you doing here anyway? I thought you were back home doing your homework." He asked, seeming suspicious about her presence for a few moments.

"I was but I got called in by that guy." Kiku said with her voice still filled with childish indignity as she pointed at something down the hall from where she'd come a few moments before. Sure enough, there was Lai, looking purely exhausted but relieved to see some old faces as he tried to remain standing.

"Lai! Are you okay?" Carol asked, concern showing in her voice and on her face, Bikky and Ryo mirroring the same looks as her.

But he just waved their worries away. "I'm fine. That girl moves fast! I've never seen anyone go as fast as her before! Is she even human?" the teen inquired between gasps for air.

"I'm just as human as you!" she snapped, glaring childishly at the older teen with a rage that made Chevy snicker from under his mask-like scarf. It wasn't long before the little girl turned on him. "What're you laughing at?"

"N-nothing." He said between chuckles, unable to hide his laughter as Kiku's face started to change color.

"You're not being nice at all aniki." The girl growled angrily, only making the older teen laugh a little harder as he tried to speak as seriously as he could.

"Who said I had to be?" Chevy inquired, feigning seriousness through chuckles and snickers of uncontainable humor.

"Aniki!" she yelled, waving her arms and stomping her foot angrily.

"What?" he asked, faking innocence perfectly.

"Stop being mean!" Kiku snapped, her face turning a bright shade of pink.

"Sorry, what was that?" he asked, putting a hand to his ear, his silvery grey eyes shining with amusement.

It wasn't long before she burst with an infuriated scream. "ANIKI!"

"Sorry! Can't hear you! Say again?" Chevy queried through some more of his chuckles and snorts of laughter at his siblings' obvious rage.

Kiku's face was really starting to turn red with fury, as Chevy just seemed to crack up uncontrollably in response. Even Ryo was having trouble not laughing at the squabble between the two. This scene would've gone on for a while longer if an air of seriousness that killed the mood completely hadn't replaced Chevy's amusement, as the teen suddenly turned his head to the right.

"Aniki?" Kiku inquired in a worried tone, her anger temporarily forgotten as she stared at the older teen with confusion.

"Shush." He growled, the word hissed most likely between clenched teeth.

"But--." She began before he cut her off.

"I said shush." Chevy snapped, not looking at her as he stared down the hall to their right.

Silence fell over the group, all five of them watching the sixth of their group stand almost stock-still as his silvery grey eyes seemed to pierce the walls surrounding them as he stared off into the distance. Looking closely, Ryo could almost swear that the teen's ears were moving from under his hair and the cloth that hid his face.

Within seconds, the teen was moving again. Only this time, they varied in a very different fashion than before. His movements weren't swaggering or disoriented. No, they were clear minded and well placed. And it was a good thing too, for just at that moment, a dark shadow came flying from down the hall and zipped right for the blonde cop. Ryo, of course, panicked and tried to move away from the thing only for it to twist in midair and go after him again. Or at least it would've if Chevy hadn't swiped it away as if it were a fly.

"Get going. Now. I'll stay and deal with this." Chevy snarled, glaring at the disoriented thing lying on the floor, performing a full 'body' shake so as to clear its senses in time for round two.

"But Chevy--!" Ryo began to say but got cut off.

"No buts! Move!" the teen snapped angrily, swatting the shadow again when it came around for another try. But the cop refused to move, trying to think of a way to help the teen fight the thing. _What if he gets hurt? What if it defeats him and comes after us? What should I do?_

"Leave it to aniki!" a familiar voice cut into his thoughts, making him blink and look down to see a pair of iris purple eyes. _Oh yeah… Kiku._

"Huh?" such was his response to the girl's words.

"Aniki's strong! Like I wanna be someday. So don't worry, aniki can fend for himself. Now c'mon before he gets mad at us too." Kiku insisted, pulling on the blonde man's sleeve so as to lead him in the opposite direction.

Finally giving in, Ryo turned away and ran after the group of teens and the small girl, hoping that their remaining member would be okay on his own.

--_**Meanwhile, At The Precinct**_—

Gayle, sitting in the infirmary and bored as hell, perked up at the sound of the room's door opening to reveal Diana, Berkeley and Chief Smith entering. And each had a pretty serious look on their faces as they approached the teen's bed as he sat watching and waiting while they walked up to him. "Somethin' I can help you guys with?"

A bit startled by the eerily calm tone the teen gave them, Berkeley was the first to regain his composure. "Actually yes, there is."

Gayle raised an eyebrow at this, his expression unchanged as he continued to stare unblinking at them. "Oh? And that would be?"

"You can start by telling us what this other Evan is capable of." Chief Smith growled in a demanding tone as he took up one of the visitor chairs, Diana taking another while Berkeley remained standing, giving the teen a 'don't mess with me' look.

The teen in question, if on purpose or not, seemed a bit confused as well as surprised by this inquiry. "Excuse me?"

A bit impatient, Berkeley cut in again. "You said that Evan had a brother. An identical twin, if I remember correctly. Mind telling us more?"

Gayle looked thoughtful, rubbing his chin while turning his gaze to the wall some distance from him. "Hmm. Sorry, but such things are classified. It's our law you see. I've already told you enough as it is. End of discussion."

This didn't sit well with the chief at all, since he quickly rose from his seat to point a finger at the teen and snap angrily. "Look you! You're a bird for as long as I say you are. Now start singin.'"

"I don't think so." The teen said bluntly, already starting to sound annoyed.

"Say what?" the older man snapped, a vein threatening to burst in his head somewhere.

Gayle didn't bother trying to beat around the bush. "You heard me. The song ended as soon as that meeting did. I'm not allowed to go any further into the subject than I already have."

"And if you do?" Diana asked, speaking for the first time when it came to the conversation at hand.

The teen just shrugged, nonchalant and calm as he spoke. "I'll be branded a traitor and most likely hunted if they don't court-martial me first."

All three looked utterly shocked as Diana nearly rose from her chair, her voice strained as she tried to keep her tone steady. "W-what? Your own group would do that?"

"You wanna find out?" the teen growled, giving all three a fairly serious glare that showed just how sincere he really was. He was answered by silence, his grim expression never changing as he stared the three adults down. "I didn't think so."

"So… we can't get you to say more?" Berkeley said in a soft voice, a bit unnerved by how mature and oddly dangerous the teen looked when he'd spoken.

Gayle's expression had relaxed as he sighed, shaking his head in finality. "No. No you can't. I'd be disobeyed a standard law of procedure. Even the twins and Chevy aren't stupid enough to do such a thing."

"You guys are that strict?" Diana asked in amazement. Even she'd not known about this despite her experience with them.

"We gotta be, or this place'd be in chaos with all sorts of crazy shit flyin' everywhere. Can't have that kind of stuff goin' on all the time. Safer to be 'hush, hush' and not 'check this out!' for every day of the week." The teen said wearily, obviously not in the mood for '20 questions'.

"But why?" the chief inquired, having lost some ground during it all.

"Can't say remember?" he grumbled, rubbing one of his eyes with the palm of his hand, already shifting to lie back a bit more.

"Ah." Chief Smith said shortly, choosing not to say much else.

Berkeley was already on his way towards the door, the chief and Diana not far behind him as he smiled back at the sleepy teen. "We'll come visit tomorrow. Be sure to get some sleep."

Gayle nodded, trying to remain awake long enough to speak properly. "I'll keep that in mind. And officers?"

"Yes?" Berkeley inquired as all three paused to listen in on what the teen had to say to them before they left.

Cool grey eyes seemed to flash with an eerie light. "Just one more thing: if we get mad and we tell you to leave, do as we tell you."

"What? Why?" Diana asked, hoping they'd get a good answer from the boy lying on the hospital bed a fair distance from the door.

He only smirked mysteriously at them, saying nothing as they left with a whole new set of woes on their minds.

Another chapter done and ready for reviews! I'm really rollin' along now that I've gotten rid of that damn writer's block that's been botherin' me. Thankfully there are no notes today so that means we can go right on to what's to come in the upcoming chapter! Talk about good odds! And here we go:

Next chapter:

Chapter 6: The Broken Leash: Chevy Gets Serious

He may be laid back and lazy as hell, but today… he's gettin' riled up to where he definitely has to show off his mad skills. And better yet, it seems that Gayle's talkin' in riddles while Evan has a bit of a seriously weird family history that no one wants to talk about! And things are only just gettin' started! Find out in what's to come in:

_**Chapter 6: The Broken Leash: Chevy Gets Serious!!**_


	6. Chapter 6: The Broken Leash

Yet another chapter, another day of makin' some serious readin' material for all to read and hopefully review after thoroughly reading it all the way through. Such things are indeed produced by boredom or lacking concentration on other things in life. But that's beside the point isn't it? Yeah I know it is… I'm just rambling so ignore this paragraph if you must. Anyway! On with things since my rambling doesn't make things go any faster. I don't own FAKE in any shape or form but I'm sure by now everyone can tell what and what isn't my crap. Enjoy!

"Iii" speech

_Iii_ thought

"_Iii_" telephone speech

Chapter 6: The Broken Leash: Chevy Gets Serious

Silver grey eyes narrowed as the living shadow attempted to get by him again, and again, and a few more times before coming straight at him instead. He'd managed to dodge the blow but had to twist in the air a bit so he could kick the living daylights out of the thing, sending it up and into the ceiling panels. It screeched in its pain and rage as it fell back to the tiled floors, plaster and ceiling dust fell with it. Chevy, thinking fast, reached into one of his pockets to pull out a knife, it's metallic silver blade shining in the dim light of the school hallways as the teen brought it down on the stunned thing lying on the floor.

The reaction was instantaneous, its screech of agony echoing off the walls like tires burning rubber in an empty tunnel. Pulling the blade back out and using an old rag to rid it of what one could say to be the creature's blood, Chevy straightened only to freeze again like he'd done before. _Shit._ He thought angrily as he vaguely heard at least several more of the things heading his way, their claws scraping against metal and tile almost like nails on a chalkboard.

_A few in the air conditioning system while the rest are bouncing all over the place… wonderful. Yet another hectic workday where napping isn't an option and my work in question hates my living guts… yeah how much worse can this day get?_ Leaving such thoughts for later, he ran down the empty halls in the hopes of finding a much more convenient means of ridding the place of its new pest problem. Unfortunately, he didn't have all that many options on the matter. Cursing angrily under his breath, Chevy quickly skidded around a corner to take another hallway in another direction. He knew better than to fight in an enclosed space. As he ran, he hoped the things behind him would get the hint as he headed straight for the front doors.

--_**Meanwhile, At The Precinct**_—

Chief Smith had been sitting in his office for quite some time now, just sitting, enjoying the sweet aroma of well made coffee and mundanely dealing with the several folders worth of papers he was sure would take at least a few hours to finish. And all that Gayle had told them at least two days before wasn't helping his concentration in the slightest. He could still hear that one part of the conversation almost too well, Gayle's words seeming to come through the most as they rang almost ominously in his well-aged ears.

--_**Flashback**_—

"_Since this is a police station and it's obviously filled with cops, I doubt they'll be pullin' anythin' off unless one of us goes outside where they can most likely get us for sure. My advice is to wait a couple of hours before goin' anywhere specific."_

"_And do what? Try and track them down?" Dee drawled lazily, giving the teen a bored look which vanished when Gayle upright and snapped at him._

_The teen's gaze was filled with aggravation at the question as well as wonder at just how the man could really be so dull. "Are you really that stupid? Hell no! You act like nothin' happened that's what! If they think you're on to them, you won't be able to stand in line at the grocer's without gettin' jumped by the people around you! Much less the cashier but that depends on where you're standing. The last time a cop tried to find 'em like you suggested, they got mobbed by a bunch of neighbors from his own apartment building! Hell, even some old lady's cat did some real damage to his face if you ask me."_

-- _**End Flashback**_—

The last part he had reason to doubt but something told he'd better not take his chances with such a thing. He was old but probably not old enough to fend off some pissed off cat. But he was kinda old to be dealing with a three-year-old dog with teeth sharper than a pen's point. Of course he didn't exactly see himself getting attacked by a nice old woman almost 40 years his senior just because he asked if his headache medicine was in stock or not. Though the mere thought of it did make him chuckle as he sipped his coffee, staring down at the well organized papers lying for all to see but only for him to read until later or something.

But upon looking up, he found something he hadn't thought he'd find there some minutes before. Jumping in shock and utter astonishment, Chief Warren Smith hadn't really expected to find an annoying looking Evan sitting in one of the visitor's chairs on the opposite side of his desk, looking at him with the most bored expresson the man had ever seen in his life. The only thing he hadn't truly expected at all was the fact that the teen spoke and when he did, it was in a cold, emotionless voice. "Well it seems that you're not as dumb as I thought. How quaint."

"W-what?" the man exclaimed, apparently confused and angered at the teen's words.

The pair of golden-flecked green eyes flashed dangerously, their coldness cutting like well-sharpened knives. "No need for alarm Mr. Smith. My presence is temporary compared to that of my comrades, as well as the issue that you're now facing on a fairly citywide scale."

"Citywide? What do you mean? Who are you?" the older man demanded, glaring at the strange teen by now.

The Evan look-alike only nodded, still cooler than cool at the man's reaction to his words as his face had yet to change in any way at all. "Yes. Most of this city can be infected by their influence in a matter of seconds, sometimes hours but they choose not to so as to avoid getting caught. Allows them more freedom in their actions, more options. I think I'd be happier if we just found them all at once and end it like we should've done years ago. But as usual, one like myself is held back by many a law."

"Who are you? And how'd you get into my office?" chief Smith growled angrily now, having lost all patience with the teen before him on practically every level.

A ghostly smirk began to float its way onto the teen's lips, the eyes flashing again in a way that Smith found terrifying to him. "Honestly Mr. Smith. And to think you'd have recalled by now. Surely my good comrade Newman was kind enough to explain such a thing to you and your oddly intelligent subordinates."

Thinking this over, Smith felt his eyes widen in realization in as to just who was in his office with him, making him rise from his chair and stare at the cool looking teen in pure astonishment and horror. "Y-you! You're Evan's brother! Ozzy!"

"Congratulations. The last horse crosses the finish line and crowd has yet to leave the stands. What are the odds of that?" the teen drawled on, his expression unchanged even though his tone showed a bit of how annoyed he was.

"Why are you here? Is there something you want?" chief Smith demanded, hoping his tone was enough to show he wouldn't be scared by someone twenty years younger than him.

An eyebrow went up in question. "What? Can't a guy check on his younger twin? I don't particularly like watching others 'take care' of his health issues. Especially when they're liable to make any unnecessary changes that might only damage him later on and in the field."

Smith's eyes narrowed as he reclaimed his desk chair, giving the teen a suspicious look from where he sat. "You're worried we might do something. Is that right?"

The face before him became harder than steel, the eyes seeming to flash as if on fire with a far from natural flame. "Take my visit as a warning Mr. Smith. This is our game and you're just a new player to the board. You could say that I'm one of the knights, Gayle a rook, while Chevy's a bishop and you?" he paused, looking thoughtful before shrugging stoically. "You could be a pawn for all I care."

The chief could only grit his teeth in anger but knew the teen spoke the truth. He and his fellow officers were already up to their elbows and there was no way of knowing which way was the way out. So he said nothing as the green eyes, hinted with flecks of almost golden yellow stared unkindly back at him, the harsh voice going on.

"I'll be returning tomorrow for my comrades. Their tardiness is causing a bit of a stir if you ask me. But understand that if you step so much as a millimeter out of line, I'll be obliged by law to do whatever it takes to ensure you don't do it again." Ozzy growled, his voice filled with an aggressive snap.

"And if I don't?" the older man inquired, daring to go deeper into the subject as he watched the teen as well as his old eyes would allow.

The teen just shrugged, like he could care less. "Then fate will be favoring you. Of course, I don't make the rules. I just enforce them to their fullest extent. My role is sometime miniscule compared to the others at this point." The smirk returned from behind a pair of dangerous looking folded hands "Until we meet again, Mr. Smith."

And with the blink of an astonished eye, the teen was gone, having somehow left without even having to move from the chair at all. Chief Smith could only stare at the now empty spot where the teen had been, all the while wondering just what the hell it really was they'd all gotten themselves into. Realizing that his coffee was on edge of getting cold on his desk, the old cop picked up the mug and swigged at much as he could in one gulp before taking another. Seeing the cup empty, he set the thing down and mused over whether he needed another or if he should lay off for awhile.

--_**Meanwhile, At Ryo's Apartment**_—

It'd been almost two hours and Dee was just finally starting to feel better. Having gone into the living room to watch some TV and relax for a bit, he'd taken note that Evan had dutifully cleaned up after himself before claiming the couch as his nap spot. Of course, Dee didn't bother to argue with the teen. He looked almost as tired as him anyway and the fact that so much had happened in the past three to four days was enough to make anyone want to nap for a few hours or so. And so, the raven-haired cop sat on the floor, his back resting against the side of the couch as he randomly gazed at various channels in his boredom. But it wasn't until he looked at the time with this assistance of a clock on the wall did he notice that Ryo and Bikky were late in coming home from the high school. In his mind, this was most unusual.

_Maybe they got held up. Eh. I'll give 'em a few more minutes before I call._ He thought absently to himself, switching to another channel since the last one had gone to a commercial and he needed something to help him occupy his time with. Staring at the flashing screen, Dee would look at the clock now and again, counting the minutes to where he'd pick up the phone and call his partner/boyfriend. After nearly five minutes of switching from the clock face to the TV face, Dee finally had the brains to head towards the kitchen where the home phone was situated.

Picking up the receiver and putting it to his ear, Dee didn't take long to dial in Ryo's cell phone number. He waited patiently for the dial tone to end as he stood staring almost absently at the cupboards' doors before switching to the ceiling. _What's taking him so long? Is the traffic really so annoying today? Or is it the rain messing with the signal? Whatever. I'll just wait until he actually picks up._

And so, with the patience of a three year old, the raven-haired cop waited for his blonde counterpart to pick up, completely unaware of what was really going on some mile or so away.

--_**With Ryo**_—

Regardless of what Dee was thinking, Ryo wasn't exactly dealing with traffic. Per se. More along the lines of strange lizard/dog things, black as night but ugly as hell, that seemed to be coming out of the ceiling and floors and were relentless in chasing them through the empty halls of the high school. Heaven forbid they started popping out of the walls. Not only that, they seemed to defy the laws of physics mainly since not only did they come out of the ceilings, they walked on them as if they were the floors and not the other way around. The hallways ahead were clear as they tried to head for one of the exits with Kiku in the lead, seeming to move as if she were some small animal. But their hopes of escape were cut short when one of the creatures busted through a classroom door, turning it to shambles as it fell clumsily to the floor.

"Get back!" Kiku exclaimed suddenly, surprising all. It wasn't until she seemed to go into a defensive stance that they decided it was best to listen to her command. The new creature in front of them had gotten to its feet and was starting to scramble towards them, the small girl standing her ground. It never stood a chance.

For at that moment, Kiku moved in a way that at first was puzzling. But after the movement, all was clear. The little girl had quickly brought her arms into a basic fold, one arm over her chest with her hand as if looking for her own pulse, the other in a fist at her stomach. With all the swiftness she could muster, Kiku brought her right arm around in a controlled swing while her left came up in a fist to cover her chin, hand stiff and fingers close together, as if she were trying to block a blow sent towards her face. In this case, the only thing that got hit was the creatures' face, oozing with a dark sludge that one could only guess to be blood by a force unseen by the human eye. It screeched in its fury and rage, trying to regain its composure enough to counter the girl's powerful blow at its face.

But she didn't stop there. Twisting her foot, Kiku sent her left fist forward in a fairly powerful back punch, making a large section of the things' chest to cave from the forceful impact. Still not stopping even as the thing gagged in surprise and pain, Kiku quickly twisted around to lay down a powerful back leg side kick, sending the thing right down the remainder of the hall and out the school exit doors. It fell to the ground with a loud thud and splash of rainwater.

"Let's go!" she called, not waiting for the other creatures to snap out of their horrified stupor as she made a break for the now demolished doors. They were immediately pelted by the autumn rain but as more of the things came running after them at full speed, they had all reason to not care if they were soaked or not.

"Which way is your car?" she demanded suddenly, looking back at Ryo in question.

"Around to the west side, in the parking lot." He said quickly, curious in as to why she'd ask such a thing.

She didn't give him a chance to think about it. "Get there! Fast! I'll do what I can here."

Ryo looked horrified, almost stopping to stare at the girl in disbelief. "W-what?! You're just a child! How can you--?"

"I held off the last one didn't I? Just go already!" she yelled over the roaring wind, skidding to a halt before zooming past them back towards where the creatures were still trying to catch up, their strange feet oddly unable to grip the wet cement.

Seeing no real choice in the matter, Ryo picked up his pace a little as he tried not to slip on the wet ground as he headed around a corner and towards the parking lot where his car was obviously among the few that were still there. Quite practically throwing themselves into the car, the four of them slammed their doors and gasped for air as the rain pounded the roof like someone were dropping rocks onto it.

Upon seeing another one of the creatures out of the corner of his eye as it came almost galloping across the empty lot and towards the parked car, Ryo didn't need any reminder that he was the one with the keys and that they needed to leave. Fast. Nearly forcing the key into the ignition, the blonde desperately turned it as quickly as he could, making the engine roar to life as he brought the large machine out of 'park'. The wheels screeched on the slick pavement as the car lurched into motion, Ryo doing his best to ensure they didn't crash as they headed for the streets.

Getting onto the road and merging with the rest of the traffic was surprisingly easy and uneventful, the strange creature having somehow vanished from sight as they waited almost impatiently for the light to turn green. Soon it changed and the late day traffic began to move, tires sloshing the puddles on the edges of the road to send the mucky water flying at the many standing a bit too close to the edge. Silent curses were drowned out by merciless rain and other sounds that raged too loudly as each one tried to overcome the other. Ryo didn't say anything as he kept his eyes on the road ahead and behind him, his sharp eyes and diligent mind focusing mainly on his task of getting them home and not what kind of foul thing could be leaping up from down the road where the school was. And that was something his thoughts could do without.

Nervous silence gripped the inside of the sedan as the blonde cop tried to keep his thoughts and attention in check, making sure to watch both the other cars and the lights overhead to ensure he didn't miss a red light or accidentally goose through a yellow. This would've lasted for a while longer if something in his pocket didn't suddenly start to make noise, nearly causing him to spin the wheel in a crazy direction as he jumped at the new ruckus. Somehow keeping one hand on the wheel and an eye on the road, Ryo searched his pocket for the cause: his cell phone. Making sure the small device was facing the right direction, the blonde pressed the green button and held it to his ear as he refocused his eyes on the road. "Hello?"

An all too familiar voice came over the line, making Ryo relax considerably. It was just Dee. "_Hey Ryo! Where are you guys? You were supposed to be here over twenty minutes ago! What the hell?_"

"Oh Dee I'm sorry! We got sidetracked and… it got complicated. But we're on our way right now." The blonde didn't know why he didn't just explain what'd happened at the school but something told him that it could wait until later.

"_Are you okay? You don't sound too cool. Did something happen?_" the brunette inquired from over the line, sounding instantly suspicious.

This was the last thing Ryo needed as he tried to keep his cool. "What? No! No, nothing at all. Trust me."

Dee's response was hesitant but sincere. "_Well… okay but hurry up. Me and Evan are gettin' kinda bored over here._"

Ryo rolled his eyes even as he took a corner smoothly. "Okay now I know that's a lie. You're probably trying to win a poker game you found you can't win."

The blonde smiled in triumph upon hearing the man's indignant response. "_Are you kidding me? The kid's out like a light on the couch! Unless he can play in his sleep I doubt that's gonna be my main problem. Just get home will ya?_"

"Alright, alright! See you when we get there." Ryo said in mock defeat, only making the brunette on the other end bristle.

"_Fine. Bye._" He growled over the line, obviously not amused.

"Bye." Ryo said innocently as he pressed the red button and stuffed the small device back into one of his pockets.

Bikky, who'd been trying to listen in from the passenger's seat, gave Ryo a questioning look. "Did Dee do something?"

"Surprisingly no. But we'll have to fill him in on things later." The blonde man said calmly, his focus mainly on the road than much else by now.

"Yeah but… what about Lass?" the teen inquired, giving the older man one of those 'are you sure you remembered everything?' kind of looks.

This question was so random and to the point, Ryo almost let go of the wheel in his shock and realization. "W-what!?"

Bikky sweat dropped at the blonde man's reaction but just kept on talking anyway. "Don't tell me you forgot about her!"

"Y-yeah but--! Oh god. Carol! Do you still have that phone you had?" he inquired desperately, already feeling horrible for overlooking such a thing.

"Uh yeah. Why?" Carol inquired hesitantly, suddenly nervous about what Ryo was going on about.

"Can you call Chevy on it?" he inquired, nervously fingering the wheel as he tried to keep the car from swerving on him.

The girl blinked, his words suddenly clicking right into the 'makes sense' box in her head. "I don't know but I'll try."

Refocusing his attention on the road, Ryo didn't bother to watch Carol pull out the silver cell phone from one of her pockets, flip it open, and began to scroll through the lists posted on the tiny screen. (See chapter 4 for better references). _Okay… 2 and… 2! Yes!_ Hoping to see the ever-familiar 'call' option, Carol froze when she saw something else instead. _Oh crap._

Instead of getting a number or a 'please wait' message, what had come up had been 'so sorry! That officer is not available at this time. Would you like to chose a different candidate?'

"Oh dammit!" she yelled suddenly, quickly pressing buttons, hoping they would comply with her intentions.

A bit startled and worried, Ryo didn't take his eyes off the road as he called back towards the teenage girl. "What is it?"

"It says he's not available!" Carol exclaimed as she had the phone put up the main menu once again.

"What? That's impossible! Maybe he can't pick up!" Lai said almost afraid that something had happened to the other teen, though he admittedly didn't know the guy at all.

"It could be anything by now! I'll try again." The blonde girl said with a sigh as she continued to go through the proper menus and cursed when she still got the same response. As stubborn as she was, Carol went through the different menus at least three more times before, as if upon impulse, the small silver device began to ring. Sitting frozen in surprise at this as the screen politely said 'receiving call', the blonde girl pressed the green button before slowly putting it to her ear.

"Hello?" she inquired, nervous and uncertain as Lai and Bikky stared at her, trying to listen in as well as they could.

A familiar voice rang true over the slight static of rain and hard breathing. "_It's me, Chevy. Have you been trying to call me?_"

Her answer was hesitant, showing her confusion on how to answer. "Uh yeah sort of. But it kept saying you weren't available. Why was that?"

He seemed to shrug at this question from over the line, his voice calm as ever despite the fact that he sounded like he'd run ten miles nonstop. "_Kinda hard to be called upon when one such as myself is in motion. Especially when the caller's on the move as well. Much less in a confined space, that may, or may not, be moving to your knowledge or otherwise. I guess Ozzy forgot to mention that part of how the damn thing works._"

"Why wouldn't he tell us something like that? That's something you should tell someone right of the bat!" the blonde girl demanded, frustrated with this lack of trust in her and her friends competence.

"_Knowing him as well as I do, he could give a rat's ass about what and what not to tell you as long as it's on a need-to-know basis. Obviously… he didn't think you needed to know that little bit. But now that you do, you can stop wondering why your request wasn't working like you thought it would._" His voice seemed to echo the same thing about it, but something else about his tone told her that Chevy could care less about it in the first place.

Rolling her eyes, Carol decided to let it drop to ask. "Where are you? We could turn around and pick you up."

This seemed to catch him by surprise, his tone changing to sound almost uneasy about such a thing. "_No! It's too dangerous for that. Just keep going until you reach home. I might be able to meet up with you there when I'm sure none of those things are following me. Besides, isn't Kiku with you?_"

Hesitating again, Carol felt the regret and embarrassment grow from within her chest as she eventually answered him. "Uh… no, not exactly."

"_WHAT?!?_" his voice practically echoed throughout the car, almost making Ryo swerve into the wrong lane, the loud angered yell obviously making him and everyone else jump in surprise. Carol's ear, one of the victims, began to ring even though Chevy's voice still came through loud and clear. "_You left her behind?! Why'd the hell do that? Damn it woman! What the hell happened when you guys left?_"

"It wasn't our fault okay? She told us to run for it as she fended one of those things off! Kinda didn't feel like arguing especially since she was kicking its ass!" she exclaimed, hoping she wasn't shouting even though she was defending herself and her friends on the subject.

"_Kicking its ass and winning are two different things Carol!_" he snapped over the line, making her wince. Of what little time she'd known the other teen, this made him sound very out of character. Carol hesitated, hoping the teen's anger would dissipate. It didn't.

"_Where did you last see her?_" Chevy demanded, sounding infuriated at her lack of response.

"In the parking lot next to the school. We just drove off after that. Or had to since one of those… things tried to chase that car down and smash it." She said in a almost regretful tone, absolutely hating the fact she had to be the one to tell the other teen something that could've gotten worse by now.

She heard a tired sigh being blown as silence filled her ear. After a moment or two of this, Chevy's voice sounded off clearly, his tone giving away his fatigue. "_I'll try and call her once I hang up. You need to go to Ryo's place and __stay__ there until I either call to say you guys can leave or I come over and say so. Got it?_"

"Yeah, yeah we can do that. Will you be okay?" the blonde girl inquired, sounding a bit worried for the teen rather than herself by this point.

Chevy just scoffed at this question, the noise made as if it'd amused him in some way. "_I'm still alive, if my picking up your call was any indication. I'll call. If not, see you in twenty minutes._"

"O-okay… bye."

"_Bye._" The line went dead, leaving a silent car gently rolling through water logged city streets to slow to a stop in front of Ryo's apartment complex. Carol could only stare at the phone before flipping it shut, looking up to find three males staring at her in question. Silent at first, Carol took the time to explain what'd just occurred.

When she finished, Bikky didn't say anything, Lai only nodded while Ryo just sighed in relief before rummaging around for his umbrella and exiting the car. Gathering their things from where they'd dropped to the floor, the three teens moved to do the same, making sure their rain coats shielded them from the the downpour. Making sure all the doors were locked, Ryo quickly went to the front doors to hold it open long enough for the other three to exit the heavy rain. Entering the elevator and pressing the proper button, the four of them began their ascent to the apartment.

--_**With Evan**_—

Having been lightly dozing off on the living room couch as his 'lunch' settled in his stomach, Evan was vaguely aware of Dee settling himself on the floor in front of the large piece of furniture as he lazily flicked through the TV channels. It'd been over twenty minutes since Ryo and Bikky were due back and they seemed to be taking their time arriving. Not that he was counting anyway. Something about the whole thing stunk like fish kept in the sun too long, a certain something that told him there was something going on beyond his being stabbed and chased more than once. It was certainly bigger than anything he could think of at the moment, and he knew that thinking about it wouldn't make things easier. Never did anyhow.

Leaving it at that, Evan was about to roll over away from the noise and lights the TV was creating for itself only to perk up at the front door opening of its own accord. It was obvious Ryo had never seen Ramsey's work in action before since he had an amazed look on his face. Smirking even as Dee got up from his spot to see who it was, Evan rolled over anyway and decisively fell asleep.

--_**With Ryo**_—

Upon reaching his front door and just when Ryo was about to grab the knob, it suddenly swung open with a sigh that sounded almost like a small breeze passing through the hallway. Not a normal sound for a door to make. Most certainly not in his book on normality written specifically on how truly normal things were supposed to be anyway. With 'normal' aside, the blonde highly doubted that anything was really all that normal anymore. Lass was still missing, Kiku was probably with her older brother Chevy by now after nearly getting killed by strange lizard things and on top of that, Evan, formally known as Kijika, was someone who had a past where normality had been tossed out the window a long time ago. Truly a life on the wild side compared to what he previously thought the boy to be most likely capable of.

Before he could think more of it, Dee's deadpan eyes came into view, dark green orbs of emotion meeting with light brown eyes that widened in surprise at the man's sudden appearance.

"DEE!" the blonde almost shrieked in his terror, nearly clutching his chest as if to either physically calm his heart or to shield himself from attack.

The brunette, on the other hand, was rightfully oblivious to what his partner had just been through and stood with a confused look on his face. "What?"

"Don't sneak up on me!" the sand blonde said snappishly, his anger threatening to boil at his lover's stupidity.

Still oblivious to the true going-ons, Dee could only lift an eyebrow at his partner's words. "Sneak? I didn't sneak up on you! You just didn't notice me walking up to you! What's gotten into you Ryo?"

Realizing what he'd done, the sand blonde man just sighed, rubbing his eyes with one of his hands in fatigue as he leaned against the nearest wall. It wasn't until then that he truly felt how tired he really was. He hadn't felt this tired since the day he found out that Leo was responsible for killing his parents by mistake. Bikky, Lai and Carol had gone to the living room to awaken a sleeping Evan, leaving the two men to themselves, Dee staring at the sand blonde man with concern painting his face.

"Ryo? Are you okay?" the question made him look up to find dark green eyes aching to know how to heal the unseen pain he was feeling.

Ryo only shook his head, letting his hand take hold of his face as he rubbed his forehead to fight back the headache that threatened to fell him to the floor. "No… no I'm not. I'm just… just tired is all."

Dee stayed silent for a while, but soon spoke in a soft and caring voice as he used gentle hands to pull Ryo away from the wall and towards him. "Alright… c'mon, let's get you to bed."

This caught the sand blonde by surprise, making him look up to protest. "But I-!"

His counterpart just shook his head, face stern but voice still calm. "Dinner can wait for you. You need rest. No arguments capice?"

Ryo could only stare at the other man before letting his shoulders droop as he sighed, nodding in defeat. Leaving the teens to themselves, Dee led his friend, partner and lover to their bedroom where Ryo nearly collapsed on the bed as Dee quietly shut the door and helped him out of his shoes. The sand blonde was barely aware of the raven taking both his jackets before moving on to his tie and belt. It was when Dee got to his belt that his brain seemed to give itself a shock, sleepy eyes giving the other man a suspicious look. Blinking at this reaction, Dee only held his hands up in surrender.

"I ain't gonna do nothin' you don't want. Do you want to change out?" he inquired, hoping to get a fairly conscious answer, even when the perverted part of him kept screaming '_just strip 'im naked anyway_'. Something he dutifully ignored.

Vision becoming blurry, his mind going fuzzy again, Ryo just shook his head as he let it fall onto one of the pillows. "… Not really… I just want to sleep."

"All right then." Dee said, nodding in agreement as he gently lifted the other man's legs from hanging over the side to lie fully on the mattress. Without making another sound, the raven pulled the sheets up over the other man, smiling at the peaceful look on his face before tiptoeing out the door. It took a lot of effort to ensure the door shut without making the usual click, but Dee could only sigh in relief when he performed this task with successful results. Tiptoeing away, the raven haired man made his way towards the kitchen so he could make dinner as planned. Or at least he would have if not for the front door swinging open of it's own accord.

Purely astonished at this and instantly on edge, Dee truly wished he had his side arm with him. Strange thing was, the door hadn't been forced open, much less pushed in a way that would make it slam against the wall. No, it just swung open as if by a small breeze strong enough to move it, revealing an all-too-familiar figure standing next to a smaller one that came up to the newcomer's waist.

Chevy, by no circumstance, was very amused at this particular moment. No, he was downright angry that he'd been careless in thinking a group of teens and an adult would have the brains to take his troublesome little sister with them as they fled the school grounds some five or so streets over in the middle of cold winter rain. Cold, harsh winter rain that'd been falling almost nonstop for about a week or more, with hardly any signs of stopping. To add to his present frustrations, he was wet enough to be mistaken for a bedraggled dog in human clothes with the ability to stand on its hind legs. Something he truly had the right to be pissed off about. Much to his contentment, at least he didn't smell like one. Upon the door having opened itself, his spotting his former victim of annoyance was all too easy for him to spot and blink in surprise.

What he said then made Dee shiver with anger. "You live here too? Huh, small world don't you think?"

"What are you doing here? How'd you even find this place anyway?" he snapped angrily at the teen as he let himself in, shutting the door behind him and the little girl at his side. Said teenager looked exactly as he did that very morning, the only difference being he was practically soaked to the bone.

His hat, looking like something an Irish sheep herder would wear, was droopy and blackened by rain water while his spiky brown hair appeared to be makeshift dog fur compared to before. His mud colored jeans actually looked like really oily mud that no one would want to step in, and his windbreaker wasn't doing much to save his skinny frame from the chills of the weather. To top things off, over the drenched scarf that still hid his face from view, silvery grey eyes flashed with eerie intelligence.

"Carol and Bikky's new phone has a tracking system that allows me to locate them whenever they need to be found. That and your new door seems to be working nicely." He said coolly, looking back at the door as if it were something truly worth looking at for some reason or other.

Dee just looked skeptical at this, his brow furrowing in question. "What? How would you know?"

"If I was a foe, do you think it would've let me in?" the teen inquired even as he knelt down to assist the little girl with her rain-drenched jacket. Dee didn't miss the fact that while the teen wore dark, neutral colors, the little girl didn't. Her clothing was composed of bright, vivid colors, her hair long and unbraided. From what he could tell just by looking, something told him her own brown hair was a fairly lighter shade than the teen's happened to be, almost a sandy tan color if not for the fact that it looked almost like moist dirt. Her skin was sun kissed, showing she was used to being outside a lot rather than being indoors all day. If anything, it was her strangely colored eyes that caught his attention. Never had he seen such eye in his life.

This caught Dee off guard. Such a question was a bit strange to him since doors weren't supposed to open on their own unless it belonged to an elevator or was one of those sliding doors that stores and shopping malls had. Other than that, ordinary doors weren't supposed to do such things like open by themselves. Like they had minds of their own. That's just creepy.

For the first time, the little girl spoke up in a small voice through her chattering teeth as proof on how chilled to the bone she was. "Aniki? I'm cold. And I'm hungry. Can we eat soon?"

His response was immediate, his tone calm and soothing. "In a moment Kiku, in a moment. We have to get you dried off first."

"What about you?" even for a little girl of ten years, Kiku had the mind of a young adult just beginning to come of age.

The teen just shook his head, his kind but invisible smile discernable from his tone. "I can wait. But you can't. Mom and Dad'll kill me if they find out you were in the rain for too long. Can't have you getting sick now can we?"

Kiku blinked and shook her head, looking a bit despondent. "No."

"See? Now get these off while you can." he turned to Dee as he spoke again. "I'm sure the nice cop here can find you something dry to wear."

If what he said wasn't enough, the teen's hard stare was Dee's cue to turn around and stare searching for dry clothes small enough to fit the small girl. Like Ryo had done with Carol upon first meeting her, Dee had the sense to get a plain t-shirt of his own and a towel before returning to find that the older boy had gotten his little sister to strip down to just her own shirt and her underwear. Mainly since he was a guy, not a pedophile and knew that his little sister deserved some privacy and respect despite her age. With Dee's help, Chevy led Kiku down the hall to the bathroom where he said he'd wait outside if she needed any help.

With that, a raven-haired cop and a drenched teen stood out in the hall, quietly and patiently for the youngest person in the whole house to finish her business. It wasn't until then that Dee decided to talk to the teen.

"So… why are you here?"

The teen didn't even blink as he leaned against the wall, completely unaware that he was getting water on the clean wooden floors. "My assistance is required in a certain task that I'm thinking hasn't been disclosed to you yet. I'll leave that to Ryo-san. Where is he anyway?"

"Sleeping. He was pretty tired when he got here. What happened out there?" he inquired, hoping his suspicious glare would be enough to get the boy talking.

He didn't even flinch. Just shrugged almost casually instead. "Oh… some more of those things decided to play tag. One or two of 'em tried to tear me apart."

Astonished, the raven-haired cop nearly gaped before practically stammering out his words. "Really? What'd you do?"

"I beat the livin' shit out of 'em." He could hear the triumphant smirk in his tone, made even clearer by the glint in his eyes despite the calm and lazy air about him.

"Aniki! No using bad words!" Kiku scolded through the door, somehow having heard him through the wood and the sound of running water.

"Gomen!" he said in an amused tone, his eyes seeming to smile at the door even though such a thing was a bit pointless.

Trying to ignore the sibling moment, Dee kept going. "Never did get your name. Mind tellin' me?"

The smiling eyes turned away from the door and on him as the teen spoke, still sounding amused. "Name's Chevy. But some call me Dog Man. Either one works."

Raising an eyebrow, Dee felt inclined to ask. "Does it matter?"

"No." Was the nonchalant answer, eyes of silver grey giving him a questioning look in turn. "Should it matter?"

Dee only shrugged. "No idea."

"Exactly."

The cop only stared confused as the teen before him took to staring at the wall before shaking it off and heading towards the kitchen to prepare the meal he'd nearly forgotten.

--_**A Half Hour Later**_—

With dinner nearly ready and Ryo still asleep while the four teens plus Kiku, now dressed in one of Dee's shirts, relaxed in the living room, Dee couldn't help but wonder just what in all the fiery pit of hell was going on. Yeah sure, Chevy had said Ryo would explain everything to him when he was ready to do so but he wanted answers and he wanted them now. Asking Bikky, Carol or Lai seemed a bit drastic since Ryo had indeed promised him and he was sure the teens had been through enough as it was. He would've asked Chevy, but he was either hiding out in the bathroom getting cleaned up or the laundry room waiting for the dryer to buzz. The teen had refused to remove his own clothing to clean himself until he was sure that Kiku had a spot on the couch. Something of which Evan was polite enough to relinquish.

Evan had smiled happily when he spotted Kiku, silently laughing as she almost shouted his name and enfolded him in a sudden embrace. He didn't hesitate to give her the blanket he'd been using to sleep with for the past few or so days, making sure she was comfortable and warm before starting a game of go fish with them all. It took them a while to figure out how he was asking for cards, but the hand signals he gave each person in turn were pretty basic. Holding his cards in one hand, he used the other to put up a certain number of fingers to the person he was asking. Ace through five was easy enough, but going six and up seemed challenging. Thankfully, the older teen had the sense to flash the number of fingers again if the person he was asking hadn't been paying attention. He got a little frustrated from time to time, but other times, Evan was proving to be extremely patient.

A loud but muffled buzz of the dryer caught Dee's attention, making him turn and stare at the laundry room door, the light shining from under the door broken by a large shadow passing it by. Thus proving his theory in where he thought the teen was at that particular moment in time. His movements were silent, the clothes being the only thing creating noise, somehow covering up the soft pat of bare feet on wooden floors. A noise that the raven-haired cop was having some real trouble hearing. It wasn't until that moment that he noticed the pot he was supposed to be watching was threatening to bubble over.

The rest of the evening went on calmly, the teens coming to sit as Evan gave Kiku a piggy back ride to the table. It was a pretty good meal, and a well enjoyed one. Even though Kiku chose then to say something that'd slipped the cop's mind. "Aniki said I should have soup."

It didn't take long for him to make the little ten year old some chicken noodle soup from a can he'd tracked down from one of the cabinets, silently thanking the heavens that it hadn't reached its expiration date just yet. Otherwise he was sure both Ryo _and_ Chevy would have his head. Getting beat up by a lover and beat up by a strangely robust teen twice in the same day didn't seem all that appealing to him. Probably never would either.

After giving the little girl her soup and eating his own meal, Dee set some aside for Ryo and Chevy to be microwaved if need be. Lai had called his limousine driver a few minutes before, telling the man to pick him up as well as Carol so that she wouldn't have to walk in the rain. Bikky saw them to the door, all three saying their goodbyes before the blonde boy decided it was his turn for a shower. Evan had gone in search of extra blankets and pillows for him and Chevy, having willingly given his previous bed gear to Kiku. That and he'd surrendered the couch, meaning that both Chevy and himself would be sleeping on the floor. Dee and Bikky instantly protested but Evan, despite being temporarily mute, wouldn't hear a word of it. Instead of trying to convince the teen out of changing his mind, Bikky consented to his taking up the boy's floor so that Chevy could be in the same room as his little sister. Smiling kindly at the blonde, it was obvious that Evan agreed with this logic, politely waiting in the hall for Bikky to finish his shower and get dressed in privacy before setting himself up for the night.

Dee just went in to sleep with Ryo, who turned out to be out cold. Having taken his own shower by now and dressed in just sleep pants, the raven haired cop calmly settled down next to his partner in more than one way and let sleep conquer.

It wasn't the first time he'd come into a pitch-black room, not that he minded. He was used to it. Avoiding the coffee table by mere centimeters, Chevy found a bunch of blankets and a pillow awaiting him on the floor. Taking all of this in stride, the teen rolled them out with practiced ease and lay down, pulling them up to his face as he let out a contented sigh. Before he could drift off, a familiar voice called out to him from somewhere in the dark.

"Aniki?" Kiku quietly called from the couch, hesitant but curious.

Chevy, alert to his sister's voice, turned his head in her direction. "Hm?"

At first, she said nothing, letting the quiet take over, drowned out only by rainfall. But after a moment of silence, she spoke in hushed tones. "Are you mad at me?"

This question left the teen honestly confused. "What? Why would I?"

Kiku's hesitation persisted, her voice threatening to show how upset she was. "I didn't go with them like I should have. I figured you'd be mad."

A bit alarmed at his sister's distress, Chevy's sleepy mind awakened itself further so he could answer her on a truly conscious level. "No… I'm not mad. I got mad at them but not at you. You were just going by protocol. No reason for me to get angry with you over that." Pausing, he smirked in amusement when he spoke again. Why? Do you want me to be angry at you?"

Her reaction made him snicker. "No! It's just… I know how you are when I don't listen to you."

Chevy just shrugged, but remembered that the room was dark and she couldn't see him. "I'm not mad. Go to sleep now. We'll be leaving for the police station with Ryo and Dee tomorrow."

Unfortunately, Kiku didn't fall silent like he thought she would. "We're going to see the cops? Why?"

"Those who know need to be briefed of the changes. You know that Kiku. Evan can stay here with you if you don't want to go." He said as he resettled amidst his sheets on the floor.

Chevy could only smile at the tone of voice she used next. "I wanna go. I've never been in a police station before."

He could only chuckle at her determination, not helping but admire her means of showing courage in the face of something unfamiliar. "I figured as much. Alright, we'll all go. Now go to sleep Kiku. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow."

The room fell silent, rain and wind being the only thing to make noise. Lightning flashed, rumbling thunder coming close to making anything loose to shake and rattle from the force of the sound. As sleep slowed his mind, the drum of rain acting as white noise while the occasional thunder clap and lightning flash, something in far reaches of his mind told him that the next day… was definitely going to be a long one.

Finally finished! And, to truly mess with you guys, with a cliffhanger to bring it all to a close. For now of course. I'd never finish a fic like this so soon! I can be mean but I'm not that cruel! I'm serious if any of you laugh at such a statement. Thankfully, no notes today. One less thing for me to worry over. But if you guys do have questions, go ahead and ask in a review or a message. Email me. I don't really care which. I'll respond either way. ANYway! I best move on to the preview/teaser! So here it is:

Next chapter:

Chapter 7: The Search Begins Anew: Ozzy Appears Again

Lass is missing, Evan still can't talk, Dee's tryin' to piece things together and from the chief's point of view, both he and Ozzy aren't exactly having good days. We all should know they've seen better. Can things get any worse? Or can the cops of the 27th Precinct get things in order before much else happens to the people they care for? To top things off, will Ozzy truly make another appearance? And does Diana know anything about our mysterious friends that no one else does? Find out in the next installation of 'Spirits In The Rain':

_**Chapter 7: The Search Begins Anew: Ozzy Appears Again!!**_


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